The World Boxing Council will emphasize to the International Olympic Committee its position against the possibility of professional boxers participating in the Olympic Games, according to the president to the sanctioning body, Mauricio Sulaimán.
Sulaiman was shaking his head after the announcement that the Mexican Boxing Federation (Femebox) opened the door to professionals taking part in the Tokyo 2020 games.
Pro boxers were allowed to compete in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio - although seasoned fighters like Hassan N'Dam were defeated by amateurs.
Femebox announced that it will conduct some tournaments to define the Mexican team for the Tokyo Olympics, and they expect the participation of professional boxers, in order to achieve a team they would call the 'Dream Team' - that allows the team to have more chances of securing medals.
"Our position remains the same since Olympic boxing was opened up to professionals for Rio 2016. It has been a topic that has worried the World Boxing Council and the world of boxing a lot because there is a guideline when allowing professionals to compete with amateur fighters, there is no parameter and we consider that opening Olympic boxing in that way is highly risky for the physical integrity of the boxer," said Sulaiman to ESPN Deportes.
"In boxing it is about making a matchmaking, there is someone specialized who is dedicated to approve or disapprove fights according to the degree of competition, and here the situation we're faced with is that [the tangibles of a] professional and an amateur are different, there are many things that should be studied."
Sulaiman stressed that they will send items to the International Olympic Committee, with information collected to ensure that they have more elements to decide if that window should be kept open to professionals.
"It is not a whim or a response at the moment, this same response was given by the last Olympic cycle based on studies on the differences between a professional boxer and an amateur, we will continue to address the global issue because the WBC is represented in 165 countries. We have received information from boxers, managers, promoters, commissioners in this regard, and it is the voice of boxing that will speak. We will address the issue with the same concern as always because it does have importance with the future of boxing," said Sulaiman.
