▪️President Ziad Barbouch resigned in August citing the government’s interference in the federation’s internal affairs while national coach Montassar Ghannouni quit following a tiff with the Technical Director
▪️Uncertainty surrounds Tunisia’s participation in the Dubai Men’s World Elite Championships and the Africa Olympic Youth Games in Angola in December
The government has dissolved Tunisia Boxing Federation’s executive committee and taken over the management of the sport for 90 days pending fresh elections.
Authoritative sources told boxersworld.co.ke that the government dissolved the federation’s executive following the resignation of President Ziad Barbouch.
A Provisional.Committee has been appointed to take charge of running boxing for 90 days until the next election.
The Provisional Committee is led by President Mohammed Ksontini. Others are:
Tréasurer: Anis Akrimi
Member: Fateh Kammoun
Member: Chedia Hadhili
Member: Hana Hossin.
Contacted for comment, the former President Barbouch declined to discuss the issue publicly but in his letter to members of the executive he made it clear he resigned because of the government’s unnecessary interference on the internal issues of the Tunisian boxing federation.
“I have chosen to voluntarily step down from my position while maintaining cordial relations with all components of the federation,” Barbouch said in his resignation letter.
After Barbouch’s resignation, the Vice President Wael Haddad took over the leadership of the federation but this was shortlived as the government decided to dissolve the federation’s executive and appointed a Provisional Committee to take charge for 90 days pending fresh elections.
The government’s decision has not gone down well with the executive which has raised concerns regarding compliance with the statutes and the respect for institutional autonomy.
Critics of the dissolution feel the move is in bad faith and that to a large extent it’s intended to prevent members of the executive committee from participating in the next election, paving way for former members to return to leadership given the fact that majority of the clubs were aligned to President Barbouch.
Former national coach Montassar Ghannouni, who also resigned before the dissolution following a disagreement with the Technical Director, has pulled no punches in condemning the government’s decision to kick out the federation’s executive.
“The dissolution is unfair because the current office was doing very well,” said Ghannouni, adding:”The biggest problem they faced was external interference from people who have caused too much harm to Tunisian boxing, and this decision will prevent the members of the dissolved office from participating in the next elections.”
Ghannouni feels the government’s decision will once again stagnate the growth of Tunisia boxing and water down the gains made under Barbouch’s leadership.
“Tunisian boxing has suffered too much in the past years, and the minister’s decision will cause a major problem,” noted Ghannouni.
He went on:”As a result of this stalemate we haven’t registered who will represent Tunisia at the IBA Congress in Dubai, and the national teams’ preparations have been interrupted, with only a few weeks left before the next international competitions.The African Youth Games will be held in Angola from December 10th to 20th, 2025. This means we are only five weeks away from this very important event for our young talents, and we have not yet received confirmation of our participation. An application for membership in World Boxing has been submitted, and we are awaiting official acceptance. The African Youth Games serve as qualifiers for Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics.”
Ring analysts note that after decades of stagnation attributed to political interference and repeated formation of provisional committees, Tunisia boxing had began to show a remarkable recovery with fairly good results in major international tournaments including junior and youth championships.
Leading the resurgence is their top female boxer Kholoud Hlimi, a lightweight gold medallist at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco. She twice represented Tunisia in the Tokyo 2020 and 2024 Paris Olympics and won silver at the 2023 African Elite Men’s and Women’s Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon. Tunisia placed 11th overall with one silver and two bronze medals from minimumweight Wafa Hafsi and lightweight Saiefeddine Ayari.
At the 2024 African Games in Accra, Ghana, Tunisia finished 10th overall with two silvers and five bronze medals, the silvers coming from Wafa Hafsi and middleweight Molka Mabrouk.
Under the close supervision of national coach Montassar Ghannouni, junior and youth boxing has blossomed, producing talented female lightweight Molka Khalid.
She made headlines during the 2023 Junior World Championships in Yerevan, Armenia where won lightweight bronze, the only medal for Africa.
Molka maintained her ascendancy with another bronze in the 2024 IBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Championships in Budva, Montenegro to account for Africa’s three bronze medals. The other two were bagged by her compatriot light-middleweight Islem Nadari and Morocco’s minimumweight Othman Chadghour.
The Tunisian youngsters maintained their sparkling performance by winning the 2025 Africa Youth Championships in Guinea with five gold, three silver and one bronze medal.
In January, 2025, Tunisia recorded another milestone staging the first ever Africa Boxing Confederation Pro Boxing Card sponsored by the President of the Congolese Boxing Federation General Ilunga Luyoyo jointly with the Tunisian federation President Barbouch.
Among other prominent boxers who have been unearthed during President Barbouch’s tenue include flyweight Eddine Zidi, Africa bronze medallist Youssef Rafrafi, light-middleweight Ben Mansour and bantamweight Islem Ferchichi.
It has not been possible to contact the leaders of the government-appointed Provisional Committee the get their side of the story but critics of the dissolution argue the government jumped the gun instead of holding a roundtable meeting to resolve their differences with the federation officials.
It’s understood former President Barbouch now intends to establish a Tunisian Professional Boxing Commission under the auspices of IBA to promote African boxers whose National Federations are affiliated to AFBC.
