The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) will be staying aligned to the International Boxing Association (IBA) after a special resolution to amend its current constitution was defeated at a tempestuous EGM in the National Stadium in Dublin today.
The special resolution, if passed, would have enabled the IABA to vote on joining the recently founded World Boxing body, which is currently seeking International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition to run the sport globally.
This followed from the IBA's expulsion from the Olympic movement in June.
At today's EGM, a 75% majority among the IABA delegates was required for the resolution to be passed.
Of the 118 valid votes, 84 voted in favour, 24 against, the resolution falling just five votes short of the 75%.
As a result, the vote on an affiliation with the newly formed World Boxing body was unable to take place.
In a heated debate, a number of club representatives expressed concern at a perceived 'fast-track' nature of the proposed World Boxing affiliation.
Regarding the new body, many delegates expressed a fear of the unknown. Delegates spoke of their experiences within the IBA, both positive and negative.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport afterwards, IABA board member Darren O'Neill said he had favoured change but added that the members had spoken.
"We put the vote to the membership, the members have to choose. It's an IABA issue and the members have spoken.
"Personally, I would have thought the change to the constitution probably would have been the correct one [option].
"As I said, the membership have spoken. That's our job as a board. To put these resolutions to them and let them decide."
At present, 12 national federations have affiliated with World Boxing.
USA Boxing, Great Britain Boxing and Boxing Australia were among the first governing bodies to join the new body.
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association will be staying aligned to the International Boxing Association after a special resolution to amend its current constitution was defeated - @DaveKelly4 reports from the National Stadium pic.twitter.com/ALsjtzVkYN
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 26, 2023
In the past week, the national federations of Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Honduras and Sweden joined World Boxing.
Conversely, Swiss Boxing yesterday reversed a decision to resign from the IBA.
World Boxing currently accepts dual membership, though the IOC may suspend dual members from their federation.
In June, the International Boxing Association (IBA), run by Russian Umar Kremlev, was expelled from the Olympic movement by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IBA is now no longer recognised by the IOC. It's the first time an international sporting body has been banned by the Olympics.
The IBA's initial suspension came in 2019 amid ongoing governance concerns.
For World Boxing to grow in stature, support from the African and Asian nations will be key, and potentially very difficult.
As to the future, O'Neill admitted he wasn't sure how it would shake out but said he suspected the IABA members may revisit the issue if further momentum gathered behind World Boxing.
"It's a tough question. I suspect some more countries will join the new association. At that stage, then maybe people within our membership will have a look to see if it is advisable.
"At that stage, we may look to see if we can change the constitution then. But maybe not."
The IOC directly organised the boxing competition in Tokyo and are set to again organise it for Paris 2024, meaning there is no threat to Irish boxers' Olympic participation in the short-term.
However, the current battle for control in the sport remains a concern.
"Boxing has been our most successful Olympic spot by far. It is a negative for us that we potentially won't have boxers going to the Olympics in future years," O'Neill said.
"All we can do is hope things will get resolved.
"We have seen the IOC run the last Olympics in Tokyo, they're running the next one in Paris and there's talk of them running it in LA [in 2028].
"That would suggest to me that they do value boxing's inclusion in the Olympics. You'd hope to see they'd come to some form of arrangement that we can have boxers compete. But we'll have to wait and see."
This week, Australia-based Limerick academic professor Jack Anderson was appointed World Boxing's first ethics chief.
Professor Anderson has vast experience in sports arbitration and legal practice. He's also a former law lecturer in Queen's University, Belfast.
Boxing is Ireland's most successful Olympic Sport by a considerable margin.
The roll of honour began at the 1952 Helsinki games, with John McNally's bantamweight silver medal, and continued up to the Tokyo games, with Kellie Harrington's Gold and a bronze for Aidan Walsh. In total boxing accounts for 18 of Ireland's 35 Olympic medals.
