The World Boxing Council (WBC), widely regarded as the premier professional boxing sanctioning body in the world, has opposed moves by the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) to organise professional boxing under a new name, WSB.
The move has threatened the participation of third world countries, including Ghana, in Olympic boxing.
According to AIBA/WSB, only boxers registered in their tournament would be eligible to compete at the Olympic Games, meaning boxers affiliated to any other organisation would be excluded.
Under the proposed programme, AIBA/WSB has excluded third world countries from its proposed tournament sites, while it has now withdrawn amateur from its new name.
But WBC president, Jos� Sulaim�n, has insisted that all boxers worldwide eligible under current Olympic Games requirements, regardless of their country of origin or the organisation with which they are affiliated, should have the same opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games, labelling the action by AIBA/WSB as constituting an attempt to establish a monopoly and a restraint of trade.
AIBA/WSB�s elitist attitude in disregard of the rights of the worlds boxers is further confirmed by their exclusion of third-world countries among their proposed tournament sites. In furtherance of its nefarious intentions, AIBA withdrew the letter "A," which denoted amateur from its acronym.
According to a statement from Houcine Houichi, president of the African Boxing Union, by doing so, the new AIBA now had become part of a group of about 10 professional boxing organisations, all of which should have the same rights.
The WBC, he said, had sent three inquiries about the AIBA/WSB�s discriminatory actions to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president Jacques Rogge.
In its inquiries, the WBC asked International Olympic Committee chief, Jaques Rogge, to endorse or disown AIBA/WSB's actions, which are illegal and in violation of the rights of the citizens of every nation and their legal boxing institutions, the statement said.
�Mr Rogge and the IOC have not given the WBC even the courtesy of a response. The WBC will remain vigilant and will continue to monitor AIBA/WSB's abuses of power and attempts to demand that sovereign nations change their laws to accommodate AIBA/WSB's restrictive purposes,� he said.
The WBC is committed to continueously advising the boxing world and the world leaders of the sport about the danger to the sport of boxing that AIBA/WSB represents.
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