Updated: Elections Last Step for Boxing Reforms

(ATR) The fate of international boxing federation AIBA could be decided next month when the national federations vote on changes demanded by the IOC. The reforms will be handled at an extraordinary congress in Budapest.

The IOC suspended AIBA as the federation representing boxing at the Olympic Games over a range of concerns for governance, finance and judging.

"The next AIBA Extraordinary Congress will vote for the amendments of the AIBA statutes, to make sure, that these statutes will reach the standards requested by good governance protocols," promises AIBA interim president Mohamed Moustahsane. He spoke to Around the Rings on the sideline of a Feb. 17 Executive Committee meeting in Budapest.

The thorny issue of retaining the current two dozen members of the EC is one of the questions to be decided. Last year the IOC said that replacement of the existing AIBA leadership with new faces was one of the key steps for the federation to follow on the path to reinstatement.

While there is talk that none of the current Executive Committee members should be re-elected, Moustahsane says that is for the national federations to decide.

"In my opinion, if those members (meet) all requirements in terms of eligibility and ethics, I don't see any inconvenience that they are reelected maybe as an AIBA EC member," Moustahsane said.

"Some of them are young, very active and very productive for the sport," he says.

According to Moustahsane, these details will command the attention of the congress.

"The national federations should decide how the new president is to be elected. The federations could ask the EC to step down and make new elections. We want to finalize these issues and try to solve the issues of debts, take care of the problems of good governance and anti-doping.

"We need to pay attention to sport, making a good competition plan and a financial plan.

Once we finalize these things, we can call for the elections. Elections are the last step, to make sure, that we have all the conditions to apply for restoring our Olympic standing."

"It could happen in July or November at the latest," says Moustahsane.

The interim president is expected as a candidate for the election. Another possibility is Umar Kremlev, secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation who says that’s not his objective.

"If my candidacy is needed to help AIBA, I will do that. But I'm not thinking about that yet. The most important thing for me is to help boxing," says Kremlev.

Moustasahne says he thinks the IOC will support whatever decision is made at the meeting. "The IOC is clear. If someone is eligible and meets all the requirements -- sure, they will accept (it)."

Another big challenge for AIBA is the financial situation. "A legacy of the former management," says Moustahsane, referring to the 12 year term of C.K. Wu as president. Wu resigned in 2018 amid unrest over AIBA fianances.

Moustahsane says AIBA will seek to reduce costs with restructuring of the headquarters office in Lausanne. He says EC members should reduce their expenses.

Other decisions include approving a comprehensive marketing program.

First is the 2021 boxing World Championships in Serbia. Kremlev, who is AIBA Marketing Commission chair, says the event could mean millions in income for the federation.

He says host country Serbia will pay $5 million, while revenue for television rights is estimated at $10 million.

A Youth World Championships 2022 in Poland is expected to bring AIBA another $2 million to $3 million. According to Kremlev, these revenues will not be used to pay off debts, but for the development of the sport.

Kremlev is also proposing to restore a boxing World Cup in 2021. He says Russia would pay $5 million as host fee.

Kremlev says there should not be a conflict holding the event even if hefty sanctions against Russian sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency are upheld. One of the WADA penalties would ban Russia from hosting world championships of WADA signatories for the next four years.

"I want to underline the World Cup is not in the WADA sanctions. It is a big commercial project of AIBA and we hope for big revenues from this tournament. It is a tournament, not a world championship," he says.

According to Kremlev these revenues will not be used to pay off debts, but for the development of the sport.

"I have spoken with Mr. Wu Di, he will do marketing to solve the debts," says Kremlev. Wu, a Chinese businessman, invested millions in AIBA while C.K. Wu (no relation) was president. Di Wu now has a seat on the AIBA EC.

Written by Peter Kreuzer

For general comments or questions, click here .

25 Years at # 1: Your best source for news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com , for subscribers only.