(ATR) AIBA president C.K. Wu tells Around the Rings the changes AIBA has made to the world championships since he became president in 2006 have all been for the best benefit of the athletes competing.
"Boxing in the last nine years has seen a lot of changes. These changes have maintained a very important principle – clean, honest and transparent fair play. All of the changes revolve around this principle because we want to give the best benefit to our boxers. They are the center of our work," Wu tells ATR.
Wu says the federation has made four major changes to the championships during his time as president, beginning with the creation of a referees and judges management system.
"The most important change was creating the referees and judges management because now all of the referees and judges have to pass through a very restrictive and tough training course and then take an examination to be qualified," he tells ATR.
After tackling the qualification system, Wu set his sights on changing the way each bout is judged to ensure the credibility of AIBA tournaments.
At AIBA competitions, there are now five judges and one referee per bout who are held in isolation with no knowledge of which fight they will judge until eight minutes before it begins. After a match is over, a computer randomly selects scores ofthree of the five judges to determine the victor.
"This absolutely prevents manipulation. We wanted to create this judging system that was fair to the boxers," Wu says.
The next challenge Wu faced was increasing the popularity of the boxing world championships and bridging the gap between amateur and professional boxing. With these goals in mind, Wu helped establish both the World Series of Boxing (WSB) and AIBA Pro Boxing (APB).
The WSB was founded in 2008 and pits teams of international boxers representing franchises against one another in a league format. APB had its official launch in 2014 and is a competition system that ranks individual professional boxers in each weight class and then has them compete for the title of APB World Champion.
With the creation of the APB, professional boxers now have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. The top two boxers in each of the ten weight categories at the conclusion of the tournament will earn a spot in the Games.
The boxing world championships in Doha mark the first time boxers from WSB and APB can compete in the world championships for another opportunity for inclusion in the Games. Wu says this helps bring more well-known boxers to the championships and increases the popularity of the event.
"It is a very good transition from the amateur into the professional. I think the boxers competing in the WSB and APB gain a lot of international experience. This has improved the level of competition because we have to be very good," says Wu.
The last major change initiated by Wu was the removal of the head guard in competition in 2013. The removal of the head guard along with the creation of the Heads Up program that was launched at these championships has already greatly reduced the number of concussions and cuts to the head that boxers suffer.
"The head guard was supposed to give protection, but on the contrary it created more concussions. Through data analyzed by our medical commission we determined it was safer without the head guard. The number of concussions has gone down to almost zero now," he explains to ATR.
As the 2015 world championships now move into the final rounds, there have been zero concussions. The number of cuts to the head has also reduced significantly, with approximately 40 at the last world championships to less than 10 through the semifinals of these championships.
Wu says the decision on whether to remove the head guards for Rio 2016 will be made shortly after the conclusion of the world championships in conjunction with the IOC.
Wu is currently serving his third term as AIBA president and says he is open to the idea of serving another once this term ends in 2018. He says it is the decision of the national federations and no matter what he will continue to seek changes that benefit the athletes of his sport.
"I will continue to make sure the future of the boxer is very well considered," Wu concluded.
Reported and written in Doha, Qatar by KevinNutley.
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