Lausanne: In the latest boxing news, The International Boxing Association (AIBA) on Monday revealed major developments in its drive to reform the sport with the appointment of independent governance expert Professor Dr. Ulrich Haas. It also confirmed that a major independent financial audit will be carried out, along with Professor Richard McLaren’s independent investigation into judging and refereeing.
AIBA President Umar Kremlev made this announcement during a press conference in Lausanne. It also marks the latest steps by the association to uphold the highest standards in governance, financial integrity and sports integrity.
Professor Haas, who is currently heading the governance reform of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), will chair an independent Governance Reform Group consisting of legal and governance experts.
The Reform Group will review the association's current governance structures, evaluate these structures against international best practice and issue concrete recommendations for further improvement. AIBA, meanwhile, is in the process of finalizing an agreement with a major accounting firm in order to conduct an independent full-scope audit of the federation’s finances.
AIBA President Kremlev said: “As I promised when elected AIBA president, AIBA is working on becoming a welcoming, strong and stable home for boxers around the world. We have appointed the best independent experts to guide us towards the highest standards of governance and sports integrity. We have also secured financial stability for our organization with the help of sponsorship from Gazprom, with more commercial support to come. But we will not stop there. All of these things are coming together as part of the huge shift we are delivering so that boxers can be sure of their future, fair judging and receiving a financial reward for their fights.”
Besides, the appointment of Professor Richard McLaren to carry an independent investigation into the judging and refereeing of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games boxing tournament was also announced
AIBA Secretary General and two-time AIBA World Champion and World Champion in professional boxing István Kovács said:
“Boxers have been waiting for a long time to see these kinds of reforms that will ensure their right to a fair fight and a financial reward for their efforts. In addition to actioning the recommendations that come from our independent experts, we are also working on making a number of other improvements; from increasing our transparency and making more information about our policies publicly available, to looking at how we can improve sporting integrity through live scoring and other initiatives. We will not hesitate to make any changes needed to give boxers the sport they deserve.”
