1st International Boxing Forum underway in Sochi, Russia, Bringing Together Heads of All Orgs

[Sakuraba7]

There has been a total blackout of coverage of this historic event in the English-language media so far, nonetheless, it is being held in Russia in the resort city of Sochi.

It brings together the heads of WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF professional bodies in addition to the AIBA amateur body. There has historically been a lot of tension between the WBC/WBO/IBF and the AIBA in the past decade. The event will last from 1st to 3rd of February, and will culminate in the Gassiev vs Dorticos match-up of the WBSS tournament.


Various reports from Russian language-media:

http://tass.ru/sport/4920257
International Boxing Forum opens in Sochi

SOCHI, February 1. / TASS /. The first international boxing forum with the participation of the world's leading organizations opens on Thursday in Sochi. Within the framework of the forum, the meetings of the Board of Directors of the main organizations in professional boxing will take place.

The forum is held on the initiative of the Russian Boxing Federation in conjunction with the international federations of the Olympic and professional boxing. Representatives of the leading boxing organizations - the International Boxing Association (AIBA), the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) will gather at the forum in Sochi.

Representatives of more than 130 countries will take part in the event. Among the participants of the official program are the head of the WBC Mauricio Suleiman, the WBA President Hilberto Mendoza, the head of the IBF Daryl Piples, the three-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion Cuban Felix Savon, world champion, one of the strongest professional boxers of our time Gennady Golovkin from Kazakhstan.

Within the framework of the forum - the battle between Gassiev and Dortikos

The forum will be held on 1-3 February in the Sochi hotel Pullman. The program of events includes judicial seminars, meetings of the WBA and WBC board of directors, as well as the discussion platform "Development of Olympic and professional boxing in the world" with Suleiman, Mendoza, Piples and Golovkin. Participants of the forum will be presented with an excursion program, and on Saturday morning they will visit one of the orphanages in Sochi.

The forum will host a presentation of the Hall of Fame boxing, the construction of which should begin this year. In the Hall of Fame, the location of which will be announced later, there will be a center of development, training of trainers, and a hostel will open for the athletes.

On Saturday, the evening of professional boxing will be held in the Sochi's Ice Palace of Sports "Bolshoi", the main battle of which will be the semifinal duel of the World Super Series of Boxing between Russian Murat Gassiyev and Cuban Junier Dortikos. In the ring, former world champion Fyodor Chudinov, WBA and silver medalist WBC Mikhail Aloyan, Vahe Sarukhanyan, Maxim Vlasov and Roman Andreev will also enter the ring. Participants and guests of the forum will be able to attend official training and weigh-in.

The closure of the forum is scheduled for 4 February.

 

[Sakuraba7]

https://www.sports.kz/news/v-sochi-...erskiy-forum-litsom-kotorogo-stanet-golovkin/
In Sochi opens the first ever International Boxing Forum, whose face will be Golovkin

The first ever international boxing forum will open on Thursday in Sochi and will last until Sunday. Within the framework of the event, a number of seminars and round tables will be held with the participation of the leading figures of the leading international organizations, both professional and amateur boxing.

Among the participants of the forum are Mauricio Suleiman (WBC President), Gilberto Mendoza (WBA), Daryl Pipples (IBF), Francisco Valcarsel (WBO), as well as the acting head of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) Gafur Rahimov and Franco Falcinelli, this post. Also, the event will be attended by a number of promoters, managers and functionaries.

"This forum will be held for the first time in the world. The task was to attract international organizations as much as possible," said Umar Kremlev, secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation. - We want to create a "Council of Champions" and "Council of promoters". And we will conduct it annually. That there was an open dialogue between countries and international organizations in the field of boxing. Our task is to attract the attention of the world community. "

The face of the forum will be the world champion in the WBC, WBA (Super), IBF and IBO middleweight championships, Kazakh boxer Gennady Golovkin, also among the guests the only three-time Olympic boxing champion and six-time world champion Felix Savon.

The forum will host judges' seminars and boards of directors of international organizations of professional boxing, round tables with the participation of Olympic champions, master classes, as well as the presentation of the annual AIBA Awards and the awarding ceremony of the winners of the "Legend of Boxing" award.

As part of the ceremony on February 1, according to Kremlev, 15 athletes will be named, who will be the first to enter the Boxing Hall of Fame (it is planned to begin construction this year). "We plan that the legendary athletes will come every year, leave a cast in the Hall of Fame. We also plan to create a boxing center with an arena, the center will be used for coaching and for the judiciary. The project is already there, we will present it in Sochi on the forum. We are now selecting a place and, I think, we will define it by March, "said RIA Novosti Kremlin.

Russian promoter Vladimir Khryunov told about the purpose of the forum. "One of the reasons for holding a worldwide boxing forum is to discuss the established rules, as well as the rules of interaction. It will also announce the creation of a large organization under the auspices of the WBA, which will unite the former USSR countries and some others, including European and African ones. There will be a large organization based in Moscow, "he told RIA Novosti.

The culmination of the forum will be a show in the semifinal match of the World Boxing Super Series between the IBF world champion in the first heavyweight roster Murat Gassiev and WBA Regular Winner Cuban Junier Dorticos. "The fact that the boxing forum will be held in Sochi is a pleasant news, and it's a great honor for me to be a part of such an important event," Gassiyev told RIA Novosti. Recall Gassiev trains under the guidance of Golovkin's mentor Abel Sanchez.

 

[Seano]

Who are we sending? I'll go I guess.

 

[Sakuraba7]

So the athlete who will be the face of the event is GGG, and there's plans to build a Boxing Hall of Fame. Judging from the 2nd article, this may be unrelated to the IBHOF. In which case, I wonder where they will build the facility...They should build it in mother Russia to add more SALT to the anti-Russia crowd.

I wonder how the folks who wanted Russia banned from boxing will react to all this?

 

[Sakuraba7]

Suleiman still going on about AIBA. He hates AIBA with all his guts.


THE 12TH ROUND: UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR OLYMPIC BOXING
http://wbcboxing.com/wbceng/news/10008-the-12th-round-uncertain-future-for-olympic-boxing

I am in Riga, Latvia, and still feel the great joy of last Saturday night’s event at Riga Arena where Alexandr Usyk dethroned local hero Mairis Briedis . It is, without a doubt, the best cruiserweight championship fight in the division’s history. The fight card was organized by the WBSS ( World Boxing Super Series ) with extraordinary production, making this “an event”. The world class arena was packed and the atmosphere was electric throughout the 12 rounds.

This fight made me cherish our sport and its global nature. We are the “WORLD” boxing council, 166 countries affiliated, and here I was sitting in Latvia, watching a fight between a Latvia national vs an Ukranian, it was great to see our new protocol in place in which fighters exchange flags of their countries and of BoxVal ( Boxing with Values ) in the middle of the ring and the fight proved to be a great one. Usyk is now going to the finals of the Muhammad Ali trophy and also will earn the WBC Diamond belt..

I am flying tomorrow to Sochi, as I was invited to be part of the Boxing International Forum.

AIBA, the International Federation authorized exclusively by the International Olympic committee to administer Amateur Boxing and Olympic Competition is now going through a severe crisis. It is unfortunate as this has a direct impact in the sport overall. Even though Amateur boxing and Professional boxing are two complexity different sports, they have a direct relationship.

Olympic boxing was, for decades, a sensational attraction during the Olympic Games and many of the boxers participating would move on to professional boxing to become world champions. Many legendary champions came from the Olympics, some of them are; Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar DelaHoya.

Eleven years ago a new President was elected CK WU, after a long reign by Mr Chowdri who had made changes in Amateur boxing that were creating important problems in the sport, specially with the scoring system and the huge scandals with results in competitions . Wu’s administration brought AIBA to it’s worst level in history and is still challenging the survival of such federation.

Seven years ago my father led the WBC to challenge AIBA’s policies and began a world campaign against the practices which have placed amateur boxing in the verge of dissapearing. Wu instituted programs which are intended to eliminate amateur boxing and make all boxers professionals. AIBA created a system in which they would become promoters and managers of boxers and tried to have Professional boxers compete at the Olympic Games !!!!!

The WBC created the WBC Amateur committee and has served as a platform to several countries to revive amateur boxing. At first the National federations from those countries were against our amateur committee, as their affiliation with AIBA seemed to prohibit any amateur boxing activity in their territory. The WBC amateur activity has been sensational, community programs, boxing competitions, awareness programs, family oriented activities, all combined creating a very positive atmosphere for the kids in countries like USA, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Panama, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, just to name a few.

 

[GloryOfIran]

ANy Russies here that might go?

 

[Boxiana]

In other news, AIBA has a new Usbeki President with links to the heroin trade.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/28/ioc-aiba-worried-president-organised-crime

 

[ArtemV]

ANy Russies here that might go?

I really wanted to go, but I am really busy with studies and work placements now. My friend is going, though. I am quite sad, it would have been my first trip to Sochi.. oh, well.. next time...

 

[ArtemV]

I should have skipped work and went to this, well, I will watch it on tv for free, so I don't complain