Africa’s boxing fraternity still awaits with bated breath the International Boxing Association (IBA) to state their position regarding the stalemate between two warring factions battling for the leadership of Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC).
In one corner is the IBA-recognised President Eyassu Berhanu and in the other corner is the aggressive gung-ho battalion led by Interim President Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo whose team passed a vote of no confidence on Berhanu’s leadership during a meeting held on the sidelines of the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Kinshasa in 2024.
IBA disowned them terming the meeting illegal but the Luyoyo faction ignored IBA’s position and still regard Luyoyo as the bonafide president of AFBC. To them, Berhanu’s existence is just on paper.
Luyoyo and Berhanu do not see eye to eye. The deep hatred between the duo was evidenced during last December’s IBA Congress in Dubai when each one of them kept to their lane.
Obviously concerned on this conflict in Africa boxing, IBA recently invited the two leaders and their henchmen to a series of meetings in Dubai in a last ditch effort to reconcile them but no truce was achieved.
Luyoyo did not mince his words on his dislike for Berhanu. He made it clear, they will not relent until Berhanu resigns. The Ethiopian and his team stayed put, treating Luyoyo’s call for Berhanu’s resignation as a dream in the wilderness.
The one million question remains: Who will laugh last between the two elephants? The grass has suffered for too long now.
IBA has two options: One is to dissolve the Berhanu’s executive and appoint a Normalisation Committee to take charge for three months and then call for fresh elections
The other option is to give Berhanu a clean bill of health and let him remain at the helm until the elections next year.
Analysts say Luyoyo and team prefer the first option but not the second one. In their
calculations, they feel they have the numbers to make a meal of Berhanu’s faction in the elections, thus ascending to power to bring back sanity in Africa boxing, so they say.
In their quest for power, Luyoyo’s group received a major boost of confidence when IBA gave them the nod to stage the first ever AFBC pro boxing card in Tunisia early this year. Berhanu had vehemently opposed the Tunisia pro boxing event terming it illegal because his office had not sanctioned it but he ended up with egg on his face to the amusement of the Luyoyo team.
For the uninitiated, this is the first time AFBC is being led by two presidents each one of them claiming to be legitimately in charge of Africa boxing.
However, all this struggle for power will be destroyed by IBA’s eagerly awaited big announcement.
It’s understood Berhanu called NFs to a zoom meeting that was ignored by the Luyoyo faction who felt such a desperate attempt for unity had been overtaken by events.
Hearts are pounding. Tension is palpable. It’s high noon for the two warring factions as each one of them digs deeper in their trenches. They’ve all uncorked their guns. One of them will shoot blanks.
