The suspension means that all amateur boxing activities in the United States are immediately suspended. The suspension cancels all sanctioned competitions; coach and official clinics; boxing club activities; membership registrations; and insurance coverage.
According to the official statement, AIBA's actions are a result of USA Boxing's not acting to remove former president Hal Adonis from the board of directors after some controversial comments concerning the involvement of females in Olympic Boxing. Adonis was removed as president of USA Boxing but remained on the board of directors. The following comes from the AIBA's Disciplinary Committee:
“By failing to remove Mr. Adonis from the USA Boxing Board of Directors when it had the chance to do so, USA Boxing, in essence, endorsed Mr. Adonis’ statements and sent out a message that such behavior was acceptable. The action (or lack thereof) and the very serious and harmful nature of Mr. Adonis statements, has jeopardized boxing and the Panel finds it appropriate to impose a suspension upon USA Boxing. This suspension must reflect the severity of the offence.”
4 comments:
what?!?! no way this can hold!!!
AIBA doesn't control USAB and they have a statement on the aiba website telling ALL federations to rebrand and stop using the word amateur as there is no more amateur boxing. AIBA has been trying to turn amateur boxing into pro boxing since the first announcement of WSB. This is a joke but USAB was wrong for letting Adonis still be involved after his crazy comments. But now the boxers suffer because no one is going to fight it, certainly not USAB. They have zero resources and do you really expect the same people who let Adonis stay to actually be competent enough to fight this legally? They are not the best decision makers and that is plainly obvious so now all the LBCs can just sit back and wait for them to bow down to AIBA and sit idle for three months.
President CK Wu
AIBA
Maison du Sport International
Avenue de Rhodanie 54
Lausanne, Switzerland CH-1007
Sent Via Email
October 25, 2012
Dear President Wu,
USA Boxing has received and acknowledges the decision of the AIBA Disciplinary
Commission. USA Boxing accepts that the remarks of Mr. Hal Adonis and the vote of 34
members were a violation of principles of the Olympic movement. We deeply apologize for
those remarks.
Remarks that discriminate against large groups of our athletes based on race or gender and
associate the sport of boxing with child abuse are totally foreign to our membership. Our
members have dedicated their lives to helping the young men and women of our country get
off the streets and change their lives for the better. Many of these young men and women have
become great American Olympic and World Champions, who are ambassadors for boxing
worldwide. The membership of USA Boxing treats all athletes and members with equality and
respect.
As President of USA Boxing, for the protection of our Boxers and in fairness to our 37,000
members, judges, referees, and coaches who have dedicated their lives to this great sport, we
respectfully ask for immediate clarification and modification of the suspension to confirm that
our athletes may compete on every level and the suspension will not prohibit USA Boxing from
operating at any level.
The United States Olympic Committee has already demanded that changes be made to the
way USA Boxing is governed and run. The offense of which we are guilty is one committed by
our leadership. Please allow our leadership to accept responsibility and make it right. With
complete respect for you as the man who changed the image of AIBA from a tarnished
organization to a sport that has earned the respect of the IOC and the World, I ask you to help
the athletes and all the good members of USA Boxing to survive this time of crisis in our
organization.
On behalf the members of USA Boxing, thank you for your consideration and your help. We
respectfully await your response.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles F Butler
President of USA Boxing
CC: Mr. Ho Kim, Executive Director of AIBA
USA Boxing Board of Directors
Mr. Anthony Bartkowski, Executive Director USA boxing
USA Boxing LBC Presidents, Committees, Taskforces and Members
Mr. Scott Blackmun, CEO, U.S. Olympic Committee
Mr. Alan Ashley, Chief Sport Performance, U.S. Olympic Committee
http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/8551169/aiba-lifts-3-month-suspension-usa-boxing
Lifted.
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