Today (Wednesday 1st June 2016), The International Boxing Association (AIBA) convened an Extraordinary Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland in a bid to remove Article 13 (J) of the AIBA Statutes.
AIBA has passed this resolution at Congress by a majority of 95% which gives national governing bodies the right to decide themselves who is eligible to box for their country.
This now empowers national governing bodies if they wish to do so, to enter professionals in events which were previously amateur, including Olympic qualifying competitions.
The amendment of Article 13 (J) will immediately allow all National Federations to register all non AIBA professional boxers for the upcoming APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Tournament in Vargas, Venezuela on July 3-8 according to the criteria for registration of pro boxers. The competition will offer 26 quota places available for Rio 2016.
This will not affect the qualification places already achieved by Ireland’s seven boxers for the forthcoming Rio Olympic Games.
Commenting on the AIBA Congress decision to remove Article 13 (J), IABA President Pat Ryan, who was the official delegate for the Irish Athletic Boxing Association in Lausanne said “‘The IABA wishes to make it very clear that there will be no immediate changes in response to this vote, until there has been a full consultation with the relevant stakeholders within the organisation”