Staff Revolt Led to Dismissal of Boxing Exec -- Federations Focus

(ATR) International Boxing Federation president C.K. Wu tells Around the Rings that he had "no choice" but to terminate Ho Kim as executive director after being presented with a letter signed by every federation employee that detailed grievances against Kim.

The letter, seen by ATR, said the staff was demoralized by Kim’s management style that demanded long hours and work weeks that never ended. They say they were threatened by Kim with termination for failing to meet his work standards.

AIBA employs about 40 staff.

The employee letter says Kim used demeaning language in speaking to staff during meetings and that those meetings sometimes ran four or five hours.

Wu says Kim refused to resign when confronted with the petition on Monday, forcing Wu to immediately discharge Kim. Kim will receive the balance of his salary through the end of the year.

Named to succeed Kim is Karim Bouzidi, deputy executive director and CEO of the World Series of Boxing.

Kim started working with Wu more than eight years ago, managing his campaign for the AIBA presidency. After the election, Kim joined Wu in Lausanne to run the boxing federation office. Kim was instrumental in administering reforms to judging and refereeing for the Olympic sport.

He also helped launch the professional enterprises under the AIBA umbrella such as the World Series of Boxing.

Kim, who’s from Korea, has a sports marketing background and had worked with Korean cities interested in bidding for major international events. He has not responded to requests for comment.

FEI Bureau Decisions

The International Equestrian Federation Bureau met in Lausanne on June 9 to discuss policy changes and proposals.

Included in these proposals are provisions allowing the federation to lodge a protest and legal proceedings to be opened in the case of expected bribery or corruption, as well as a provision creating a statute of limitations for prosecution of certain FEI violations, not including corruption.

The proposals for regulation changes presented at the FEI Bureau meeting will be voted on by the general assembly in November.

The federation also decided to award a salary to the FEI president. The exact amount will be determined by a committee made of top FEI officials after determining how other sporting federations handle presidential salaries.

Bosnia and Herzegovina were granted provisional membership into the federation by the FEI Bureau. They are awarded all rights as other FEI members except the right to vote at general assemblies. The general assembly will vote to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina full membership in November.

Although former SportAccord president Marius Vizer has resigned following his scathing remarks on the IOC, FEI will continue their suspension of membership with SportAccord until further notice.

First IOC Member for Wrestling

With the membership of the IOC about to drop below 100 members, two new members are about to be nominated, IOC sources tell Around the Rings.

Nenad Lalovic, president of United World Wrestling, will be nominated for one of the 15 slots on the IOC earmarked for federation leaders. Lalovic took over as president of the federation in 2013 when the IOC Executive Board voted to eliminate the sport from the 2020 program.

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Written by Ed Hula and Kevin Nutley

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