Simon Mwale
24 December 2011
column
THIS WEEK I came across an interesting item that I felt compelled to share with you. It’s about the likelihood of professional boxers competing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Jenairo after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to rule out the possibility.
Currently the Olympics are strictly for amateurs.
According to BBC Sport, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) is introducing a pro tournament in 2013 and claims fighters who appear will be eligible for Rio.
The tournament will be designed to provide an opportunity for boxers world-wide to move into professional ranks and still have the chance to participate in the Olympic Games, starting in Rio in 2016.
Boxers in these competitions will fight without headgear and fights will be judged under the 10-point must system. Unfortunately, Olympic and international amateur boxing will still have headgear and the controversial computerised scoring.
The scoring system in amateur boxing has always been a problem with forceful boxers handing their opponents a clean beating sometimes being declared losers.
And an IOC spokesperson said:”We are currently discussing the project with them (AIBA). The IOC encourages the participation of the best athletes at the Olympics.”
Last year, AIBA introduced its World Series of Boxing (WSB), a hybrid of the two boxing codes which allows salaried ‘amateurs’ to retain their Olympic eligibility, even though the tournament features no head guards or vests and professional-style scoring with three judges.
WSB was seen as a bridge between Olympic and full-blown professional boxing and AIBA president Wu Ching-Kuo regards AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) as the logical next step.
This move has already sparked all sorts of reactions from the boxing fraternity.
” If I was a professional governing body I would be saying hang on a minute, what right do they have to do this? Why is the APB’s professional standard different to ours?” asked an amateur boxing source.
But Wu stressed last week: “I feel this move towards professionalism is very important for AIBA. Boxers have always felt that they have instantly had to turn to professional after competing at the Olympics.
We want to change that culture, show (that) there is another way and this is now (the) time for the sport to move forward.
“I hope we can attract the best professionals out there. I don’t know definitely if they will compete in AIBA Professional Boxing, but I am hopeful they will because the Olympics is something very special and there is no greater prize in sport than the Olympic gold medal.”
A spokesperson for the Amateur Boxing Association of England said:”The announcement by AIBA represents another step in attempting to provide a duty of care and support to boxers throughout the whole of their careers.
“Like all major changes it creates a number of significant challenges for us as an organisation and we are forming a commission to examine the proposals in more detail in our role as the governing body of amateur boxing in England.”
However, another source within amateur boxing told BBC Sport the AIBA’s plans have caused “shock and dismay” among the ranks. “What does this (the possibility of professional boxers competing in the Olympics) mean for amateur boxing?”
In my view, if there’s one positive about the new proposals, it will be elimination of the terrible computerised scoring system as boxers’ performance will be left to the judges. But then, are there no controversies in the judges’ judging?
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