Greater Noida: Outgoing World Boxing (WB) president Boris Van Der Vorst, who played a key role in establishing the sport’s new governing body, believes major challenges still lie ahead as the organisation prepares for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Ensuring competition integrity, securing funds and staging major events will be the top priorities for WB’s new leadership, he said.
WB’s third annual Congress will be held in Rome on November 23 in which a new president will be elected. Those in the fray are Gennadiy Golovkin from Kazakhstan and Mariolis Charilaos from Greece. Boris had decided not to stand for a second term.
“The main challenge still is that the hand of the best boxer is raised at each bout — the competition integrity. I hope that by exploring modern technology we are able to engage, for example, AI in bout reviews, so that we restore the trust of fans, boxers, coaches and everyone involved,” said Boris, who is here for the World Cup Finals.
“There are other challenges because World Boxing needs more funding. We need to show the world that we can organise high-quality competitions like the Youth Olympic Games next year in Dakar and, of course, for the full recognition pathway (from IOC). It’s crucial that WB gets the LA Olympics in 2028 well organized. So, there are many challenges still ahead.
“We still don’t have all the national federations in our organisation, so we keep developing. The main national federations, the strong Olympic federations, are already part of World Boxing. There will be an announcement after the Congress for many more national federations that have recently joined WB.”
Boris said India will continue to be an important partner of WB. “India was one of the first Asian national federations to join WB one year ago. At that time it really mattered because World Boxing needed to have enough national federations to get the provisional recognition of the International Olympic Committee. So, it is also a kind of reward that we are here in India to show that it is a real part of WB.”
When Boris took over as WB president three years ago, the path ahead was tough with the boxing world split with two international bodies.
“Boxing was facing a nightmare by losing its place in the Olympic Games and by losing the recognition of the previous international federation (IBA). My main goal was to keep the Olympic dream alive for every boxing gym in the world, including in India. We worked hard, had no guarantees, so we needed to get national federations across the finish line. We needed to set the governance for World Boxing and it was important to organise some competitions to develop young boxers. Besides, there was no money, so we needed to get more funding. It was really tough. We have made step-by-step progress. Getting provisional recognition from the IOC and getting boxing re-included for the LA 2028 programme were huge milestones.”
Boris said India is an emerging powerhouse in boxing, praising the four medals the women boxers won at the World Championships in Liverpool in September. “You can be really proud of the progress India is making. I can tell you everywhere people are speaking about India — the new Asian powerhouse and also a world powerhouse, not only for women’s boxing but also for men’s boxing. I’ve seen the gyms here in India and the hunger for social impact that exists here. I expect medals in LA and in Brisbane for India in boxing.”
Boris said that as the first elected president he will always be part of WB. “It’s never about my ego or position. It was always about achieving our goal to keep boxing in the Olympics, so that’s still the case. And I will always contribute in any capacity.”
