CREATION OF NEW AFRICAN BOXING BODY TO SCUTTLE DISJOINTED AFBC

CREATION OF NEW AFRICAN BOXING BODY TO SCUTTLE DISJOINTED AFBC

International Olympic Committees’ official recognition of World Boxing has further scuttled the feuding factions in the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC).

Now, the existence of AFBC – formed in 1960 – is threatened by the formation of a new African boxing body to be affiliated to World Boxing.

Plans are already in the pipeline for the formation of WB- affiliated boxing organisation in Africa to rival the existing one which is currently going through a leadership crisis in the wake of a big rift with two presidents claiming legitimacy. One faction is led by the IBA- recognised President Eyassu Berhanu and the other one is under the leadership of the combative Congolese Boxing Federation President Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo whose group met in Kinshasa last year and passed a vote of no confidence in Berhanu’s leadership during the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships.

With WB now officially recognised by the IOC, it’s obvious more NFs in Africa will abandon IBA and join WB irrespective of whether their boxers will qualify for the 2028 LA Games. The bottom line now for the NFs is to know which side of their bread is buttered especially in view of the respect the IOC commands among their respective African governments.

Therefore as it is now, each national federation will have to make their own individual decision to join WB ignoring the ongoing circus in the deeply divided AFBC which currently has no clout to give them direction. Perhaps a new body will be a breath of fresh air for Africa boxing to move away from decades of bad leadership that has been synonymous with AFBC.

It is understood the Luyoyo faction is leaning towards WB in protest at what they feel is failure by IBA to take firm action on Berhanu’s leadership which they accuse of incompetence, shady deals and arrogance. In reality both factions have rotten eggs since they’re all birds of the same feather. Their acrimony came to a head during the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Kinshasa last year when Berhanu was denied the opportunity to address the crowd during the opening ceremony of the tournament.

Luyoyo was then the man of the moment taking centre stage with the country’s minister in charge of sports ignoring the presence of Berhanu whom the Luyoyo group alleged had attempted to sabotage the tournament by writing to participants not to attend the Kinshasa boxing event largely ignored by IBA. Strangely, there was no prize money like the previous ones in Yaounde and Maputo.

The Luyoyo faction, which claims to have more NFs supporting them, has now given the IBA tough conditions to remove Berhanu at the helm failure to which they will join WB.

Removing Berhanu now is inconsequential and has been overtaken by events following the latest development. Each NFs is now carrying their own cross. They will have to make their own personal decision to join WB.

The AFBC circus has of course not gone down well with some of the member federations who view the African body as a rudderless vessel heading nowhere other than being used for personal aggrandisement.

“We’re preparing to join World Boxing, we can’t be in a body which does not attend to our problems, we don’t even know whom to deal with,” one of the presidents of the African NFs told me this morning.

He also laments on AFBC’s lean calendar of events and would prefer a new body which is likely to inject more activity in African boxing.

So far, seven African countries have officially moved to WB. They are Algeria, Egypt, Gambia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Malawi and Sudan. Ghana and Mauritius are among AFBC member countries planning to shift to WB.

A number of NFs officials who spoke to boxersworld.co.ke said they’ll prefer a new body to bring the much desired change in African boxing and professionalism in the management of the game after decades of stagnation and petty leadership tussles.

Right now they feel in addition to the thin calendar of events, AFBC has nothing much to offer to their national federations while some feel the IBA is spending more on boxers’ prize money at the expense of financially empowering the African federations which nurture the boxers’ talents.

Others however argue the immense financial contribution of IBA’s President Umar Kremlev has been a game changer in world boxing compared to his predecessors. A number of boxers have hailed IBA’s prize money tournaments that have changed their lives.

There’s apprehension however on the future of IBA once Kremlev departs given that for now he appears to be the sole financier. Unlike World Athletics and FIFA whose sponsors are known, in IBA it’s only Kremlev known as the official sponsor. Whether the funding is personal or from friends has not been made public.

However, it appears Kremlev is not going out in the foreseeable future with the IBA now morphing into a professional body. The entry of WB is likely to speed up the process to become a fully-fledged pro boxing organisation and probably change their constitution and structure of management, giving Kremlev more leeway to remain at the top.

As for the the entry of a new African body, it’s being viewed with great expectations in that it will be affiliated to an equally new international body expected to bring on board sponsors who will empower the WB-affiliated African organisation to introduce more competitions and change the tattered image of African boxing.

For now, the African boxing scene is keenly watching to see how many more NFs shift to WB to increase the required number to 16 to enable them form a new African boxing body. Interesting times indeed in world boxing.