ASIAN Boxing Confederation president Pichai Chunhavajira of Thailand is set to step down and will form a new continental boxing group, which will include the Philippines, that will join the newly-formed World Boxing, according to boxing secretary general Marcus Manal.
“The Thailand president of the ASBC has decided to step down and form a new group after 22 countries voted against the confederation bolting from the International Boxing Association to join World Boxing during our Congress last week in Bangkok, Thailand,” Manalo said in an interview.
Tainted by the stigma of corruption and lack of transparency, the IBA was suspended by the International Olympic Committee and has not been uninvolved in the qualifying and staging of the Olympic boxing competitions in the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games.
The IOC formed a group that supervised the boxing qualifying and actual competition of the last two editions of the quadrennial meet, but the sport was not included in the roster of disciplines for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
World Boxing, led by Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, was formed in April 2023 to take over the role of the IBA in a bid to have boxing reinstated in the Los Angeles Games, which will be among the issues that will be discussed during the IOC Congress to be held in March in Greece next year.
With the growing numbers of countries joining World Boxing, now 55 and counting, Manalo is optimistic the discipline would be reinstated in the LA Summer Games.
Among the current WB members from Asia are the boxing associations of Bhutan, Chinese-Taipei, India, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
“We have seen a growing number of countries keen on joining World Boxing since we want our beloved sport to return to the Los Angeles Olympics,” Manalo said.
