After recent controversies, where does boxing go now?
Boxing has always had a patchy reputation.
After the first World War, the mob controlled much of professional boxing in the United States, as documented by Kevin Mitchell in Jacobs Beach.
Professional and ‘amateur’ boxing has gone through significant turmoil this month which has prompted controversy and disillusionment among its global fanbase.
The International Boxing Association, (IBA), is no stranger to controversy, having been stripped by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of its right to manage Olympic Boxing competitions in 2019.
Since then, it has faced leadership elections which have been annulled and despite global sympathy for Ukraine, took the decision to sanction the Ukraine national team after refusing to recognise its President, Kyrylo Shevchenko.
It led to the Ukraine junior team refusing to enter the ring at the recent European Junior Championships in Italy and while the decision was later reversed and its boxers were able to compete at international events under their own flag, understandably, the IOC expressed its concern.
The move leaves the sport in further danger of not being included in the Olympic Programme for Los Angeles 2028 and the IOC will conduct a full review at its next meeting in December. It said: "The IOC is extremely concerned about the situation in the federation (IBA).
“Amongst other concerns, this includes the fact that the recognised Ukrainian National Boxing Federation was suspended shortly before the IBA Congress for disputed reasons.”
IBA, run by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev (pictured below), then compounded the damage by lifting its ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers, who were initially banned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
An IBA statement read: “The IBA strongly believes that politics shouldn’t have any influence on sports. Hence, all athletes should be given equal conditions.
“Respecting its own autonomy as the international sports federation, the IBA shall remain politically neutral and independent. IBA calls for peace and remains a peacemaker in any conflicts. Moreover, the IBA has obligation to ensure equal treatment towards the athletes and competition officials, regardless of their nationality and residence.”
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, praised IBA and said: "We see that, unfortunately, so far this is a very rare example of a federation that manages to defend the interests of our athletes..
"This is not a reason to calm down. On the contrary, it is only an additional impetus for our sports authorities to continue efforts to defend the interests of our athletes.”
Whether that decision has anything to do with IBA’s commercial deal with Russian state energy company, Gazprom, is open to conjecture. But in the current political climate, it has not enhanced the organisation’s international standing at a time when its Olympic status is in doubt.
President of the Dutch Boxing Federation, Boris Van der Vorst, who unsuccessfully challenged Kremlev for the IBA Pesidency, said the decision ‘only escalates risks related to the integrity of boxing competitions, which is already the most problematic area for the international federation.
“It contradicts the recommendation of the IOC, implemented by the overwhelming majority of other International Sports Federations, and separates IBA further from the Olympic Movement.
“Just last month as well as before that, we have seen vivid displays of support for (President) Putin on behalf of the IBA President, Russian boxers and Russian Boxing Federation representatives.
"At the same time, many Ukrainian boxers, other representatives of the Ukrainian Boxing Community, and their families have been heavily affected by the illegal invasion of the Russian armed forces on Putin’s order. Many Ukrainian boxers and coaches have lost their lives defending their country in this war.
“Just as the suspension of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation before the Congress in Yerevan, the decision to allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian boxers is not rooted in political neutrality and does not consider the interests of the world boxing community.
“Contrary to the IBA messages, this decision is an enforcement of the Russian government’s geopolitical agenda on the sport of boxing. It is clear that IBA is held hostage by its Russian leadership and they are determined to keep the governing body under their control at any cost.”
Van der Vorst was denied the opportunity to contest the IBA Presidency for a second time after its delegates rejected a proposal to hold new presidential elections despite the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in June that he had been wrongly prevented from standing.
IBA has addressed some of the IOC's concerns by bringing in Richard McLaren to investigate issues of corruption.
Kremlev said: "We have completed approximately 90 per cent of the planned reforms, and we will keep our direction of work towards integrity, full transparency and sustainability.
"We believe that the IOC will assess our work fairly. To name a few, we have settled all debts, allocated prize money for the major tournaments, increased weight categories for men and women, established a financial support programme to help our national federations. "
However, issues in boxing extend beyond IBA, whose competitions under its former AIBA banner have seen boxers such as Nicola Adams, Anthony Joshua and Amir Khan win Olympic medals before turning professional.
The eagerly-awaited contest between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr was called off after the former failed a drug test just days before the fight.
Benn returned an ‘adverse analytical finding’ for traces of a fertility drug clomifene, which can boost testosterone, following a test taken by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada).
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), which does not officially recognise Vada, then announced that the fight was “prohibited as it is not in the interests of boxing.”
The fight would have seen the boxers emulate their fathers, who twice fought in the 1990s and promoters Matchroom Boxing and Wasserman Boxing appeared keen to disregard the test results by initially claiming that the fight was still on.
In a joint statement the promoters said: "After discussions with various parties, we have taken the decision to formally postpone the bout between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn.
"It is undeniable that the British Boxing Board of Control's decision to withdraw their sanctioning was procedurally flawed and without due process. That remains a legal issue between the promoters and the Board which we intend to pursue.
"However, whilst there are legal routes to facilitate the fight taking place as planned, we do not believe that it is in the fighters' interests for those to be pursued at such a late stage, or in the wider interests of the sport.”
Benn insisted he is a clean athlete and said: “I've not committed any violations, I've not been suspended. I've signed up to every voluntary anti-doping test under the sun, throughout my whole career I'm tested, I've always come back negative, I've never had any issues before.
"My team will find out why there has been an initial adverse finding in my test. I'm a clean athlete and we'll get to the bottom of this."
Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn added: “I want to make it clear that Conor Benn is not suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control and we don't feel he has been given due process like many others in this situation before him.
"I have seen reports about going to the High Court and bringing in foreign commissions but this is just not true, we took our time and made a decision that we felt was in the best interests of the parties involved. It wasn't a decision that was easy.
"This is a sport that is very, very dear to us and while we were desperate for this fight to take place for the fans, for the undercard fighters, we made a decision we felt we had to at this time, especially considering the interest of the sport and the British public.”
Conor’s father, Nigel, leapt to the defence of his son and said on Instagram: "We're in total shock - I've been with my son for the last 10 weeks and the training has just gone absolutely the best it could ever have been.
“He's a faithful trainer and he's a clean athlete. He leaves no stone unturned. I love my son. I know he don't cut corners, he just goes straight at it 100%."
Credit to Hearn for not trying to sidestep the governance of the fight, but the fact that he initially wanted to proceed with the test results having come out more than a week before the news broke.
Having signed up to Vada’s testing, it appeared as if Hearn wanted to ignore its findings, undermining his integrity and causing embarrassment that could have been allayed by earlier action.
Hearn, remember, has been on the other side when Demetrius Andrade’s opponent, Billy Joe Saunders, tested positive with Vada for the stimulant oxilofrine and was banned by the World Boxing Organisation.
“What is the point of signing up for drug testing if, when you fail, everyone just goes, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, just let him fight,’” Hearn said.
“The argument that, ‘Well, it’s alright with UKAD’ is totally irrelevant. You’ve signed drug testing with VADA, the best testing agency, in my opinion, in the sport.”
In both these cases, administrators and organisers need to be aware of the importance of reputation and loyalty.
There has been significant concern from fans about both situations, particularly the Benn-Eubank fight, with the public no fools in sensing mistakes made at the expense of the sports wider profile.
That concern has a knock-on effect with sponsors and broadcasters and at some point, the enthusiasm and value of investment wanes and is easily avoided with better sports PR consultancy to ensure any potential issue is addressed before it becomes a crisis.
If you need crisis communications support or wider PR consultancy, please get in touch.