The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, will not stand for a second term in the forthcoming Presidential election which will be held at World Boxing’s third annual Congress in November 2025.
The decision was announced by Boris van der Vorst in a personal letter to the Presidents of all of World Boxing’s member National Federations today (Thursday 18 September 2025).
In the letter, van der Vorst wrote: “I am writing to you personally to confirm that after long and careful deliberations I have made the decision to not seek re-election as the President of World Boxing and will not be standing as a candidate in the forthcoming election at World Boxing’s third annual Congress in November 2025.”
The letter went on to highlight the major achievements of World Boxing under van der Vorst’s tenure as President, which include: growing its membership to more than120 National Federations from all five Continents; establishing an annual competition calendar that recently included the inaugural World Boxing Championships 2025 for elite men and women; and securing provisional recognition for World Boxing from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which, in March 2025, resulted in the reinstatement of boxing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games (LA28).
Commenting on these in his letter, van der Vorst wrote: That we have achieved our primary objective of keeping boxing at the heart of the Olympic Movement is a source of huge pride and the realization of a dream.
“It was only possible thanks to the support and close cooperation of many colleagues from every continent. Many of those colleagues will be reading this letter and I am deeply grateful to all of you.”
Explaining the reasons for his decision not to seek re-election, van der Vorst added: “My time as President has been fulfilling and inspiring, but it has also been relentless. After years of global travel and the daily demands of building World Boxing from the ground up to meet the requirements of the IOC and other stakeholders, I have concluded that I will not commit to another term as President.
“World Boxing is firmly established and recognised, and it is time for new leadership to guide the organisation towards Dakar 2026 and Los Angeles 2028.”
A statement from the Executive Board of World Boxing said: “The Executive Board would like to thank Boris for his hard work and commitment over the last three years and the vital contribution he has made to the achievements of World Boxing in helping to establish the organisation and in his tenure as its first President.
“Boris has played a key role in enabling World Boxing to secure recognition as the International Federation for boxing within the Olympic Movement and the subsequent reinstatement of the sport at the Games in Los Angeles. In being part of this, he has helped to keep the Olympic dream alive for tens of thousands of male and female boxers across the world and ensure that they will have the opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in sport.
“We wish Boris and his family all the very best for the future and in whatever he goes on to do once his term as President has come to an end.”
The window for nominating candidates to take part in elections at the World Boxing Congress in November is now closed. In line with the processes set-out in World Boxing’s ‘Election process And Voting Regulations’ policy HERE all of the candidates will be assessed for eligibility by an independent Vetting Panel using open-source materials.
The Vetting Panel is made-up of three independent, external experts that do not have any involvement or knowledge of World Boxing and will be supported by the leading independent provider of sport-specific arbitration and mediation services, Sport Resolutions.
Once the vetting process has been completed a final list of eligible candidates will be published no later than 30 days before the elections take place.
Further information on World Boxing is available at www.worldboxing.org.