Is AIBA Making a Play to be Boxing FIFA-dom?

By Cliff Rold

Paraphrasing HBO’s Max Kellerman, who has made the point many times in the past: when people say ‘they’ in boxing, who are ‘they?’

‘They’ should examine the officials…

‘Boxing’ should root out corruption…

‘They’ should protect fighters from gross mismatches…

Who are ‘they?’ Who is ‘boxing?’

In the US, is it the Association of Boxing Commissions? Could it just be the trend setting Nevada Commission? Is it the major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO)? Is it the BBBofC in the UK?

The answer is yes.

The answer is none of the above.

There is no central ‘they,’ no singular dominant power that is ‘boxing.’ When people say ‘they’ for American football, they’re talking about the NFL. For basketball, it’s the NBA domestically or FIBA for international play.

In soccer, international play is the domain of FIFA. There’s plenty of money and leagues to go around but FIFA is the money king as the controlling influence on the biggest sporting event in the world: the World Cup.

An attempt to emulate the FIFA, and to a lesser extent FIBA, models might be the real story here. That’s not what’s dominating the headlines.

On Wednesday, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) generated international headlines by announcing that, beginning in 2016 (but with likely more impact in 2020), professional boxers would be welcome to compete in the Olympics and other AIBA competitions. It was a formality to a decision expected for some time now.

The reception has been overwhelmingly negative.

Numerous pro boxers, including former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, have decried the decision. The WBC announced, before today’s decision, the WBC would ban professionals who participate in the Olympics for two years.

Here’s that ‘they’ problem again. Ban them from what? From the WBC ratings?

There are other titles to fight for. Such a ban would only have real meaning if all the sanctioning bodies agreed. They might, on paper, but what if a Floyd Mayweather decided he wanted to right an old wrong and go get the gold medal he was denied in 1996? Are all the sanctioning bodies going to walk away from Mayweather money if he elected to come back?

Then again, why would a Mayweather, who could return from ‘retirement’ for at least eight figures, fight for free?

That’s the practical question being lost in all the Olympic boxing concerns. Yes, if serious pros went to the Games, it could be horrible for young amateurs. It could be unsafe, would appear unfair, and cuts off a potential pipeline to highlight future stars.

Even in an era where the Olympics has not produced the same successes for the US as it used to, how many Olympians haven’t parlayed that success into better professional position? Before they were pros, fighters like Deontay Wilder, Errol Spence, and Andre Ward had an Olympic exposure advantage. In the UK, it made Anthony Joshua, Amir Khan, and James DeGale players to watch from their debuts. Is that something the sport wants to sacrifice?

No, but is that really a risk? And haven’t they already? Closed states (like Cuba) have fighters who participate in the Games for years. Fighters like three-time gold medalist Felix Savon had something like 400 fights. He was well into his 30s when he won his last Olympics. The seasoned men versus hopeful kids argument has been hollow for decades.

For moneyed pros, logistics is a bigger issue. If, for instance, heavyweight champion Tyson Fury wanted to compete at the Olympics, he couldn’t just show up for those couple weeks. He’d have to qualify for the Games and be part of other team activities as well. When he’s doing that, he can’t be in camp for a professional fight. If he gets a bad cut in the Games, it could be months more before he can get back to the pro game.

That’s not just lost time. It’s lost revenue on top of ostensibly fighting for ‘free.’ How many high profile pros really want to do that? Boxing isn’t basketball (which is off season during the Olympics) or soccer (which builds the Olympics in via FIFA). This is not to mention the public profile risk if some kid pulled off a big upset.

Could we see lower profile professionals gamble on the chance for increased name recognition? That could happen but those would be fighters who likely struggled to make the Games when they had a chance and they’d be potentially pulling food off the table.

In the short to near term, fierce championship level pros fighting kids might not be the real issue. AIBA versus the boxing world is a battle that has been brewing for a while. For example, this isn’t the first time the WBC has been at odds with AIBA.

Before his death, the previous head of the WBA (Jose Sulaiman) was already at odds with AIBA over professional participation. In 2013, Sulaiman declared the “world of boxing is struggling among an internal war that is putting afloat the interest for money and power.” The issue of professional participation in the Olympics was fomenting even then, as was the issue of who would control it.

In AIBA’s announcement today, they stated “We have embraced reform at AIBA over the past decade, making historic changes that have shaped the present health of boxing and precipitated its ongoing surge in popularity worldwide.” They’re talking about Olympic style boxing now, but is that really the goal?

Purely speculating but…

AIBA has already embraced the World Series of Boxing (WSB), a pro-am series that has been a source of debate as to the real professional records of its participants; featherweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko is one prominent example. If you count his WSB participation, his record has six more professional wins than his widely credited 5-1 pro mark. WSB fights are full contact, no headgear (as the Olympics will be going forward and that’s probably a positive), and set for five rounds.

This might be less about three round Olympic fights and more about the future of professional boxing in general. Power abhors a vacuum. In a sport without a ‘they,’ the temptation to try to take advantage of that vacuum of centralization and all the money that comes with it is surely tempting.

What would a sort of boxing FIFA look like, particularly if it expanded its reach deeper into the pro game? It’s hard to say. That AIBA’s latest move could be a step in that direction is something to watch. It could be the forest lost by the trees of Olympic concerns. 
 
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com