The World Boxing Association (WBA) directorate in its support for peace and the cessation of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine held a meeting on Monday in which they unanimously approved the following actions:
1. The WBA will exclude Russian and Belarusian boxers from the next ranking lists. The measure is temporary and will be reviewed month by month. Current world or regional champions will maintain their status, and this will also be subject to review by the respective Committee.
2. Reaffirmed the non-sanctioning of world and/or regional bouts in Russia.
3. Russian and Belarusian officials will also be banned from participating in world and/or regional championship fights, according to a resolution from the WBA Executive Committee.
4. Russian fighters will not be allowed to enter the ring with their flag, their anthem will not be played and the country will not be named.
5. Promoters or teams of Russian boxers who violate this provision may be sanctioned.
6. WBA reserves the right to exclude from its rankings boxers who are in favor of the war.
7. All measures shall be applied to Belarus.
8. All managers, promoters, trainers affiliated to the World Boxing Association will, to the best of their ability, seek mediation mechanisms for peace.
9. WBA will launch a campaign for peace.
The WBA through its president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza and its directorate is committed to carry out all necessary actions to achieve peace. The measures announced today are provisional and of immediate effect. They may be amplified or suspended as the situation progresses.
Disgusting Xenophobia from the WBA. How are Russian/Belarusian boxers/officials related to actions of others?!?
Agreed. #8 is particularly idiotic…besides concentrating on boxing, you must also be a cross between The United Nations and Mother Teresa…good God
TG007, the one that cracks me up is #4.
The N0 1 measures should be applied only if they are in favor of his government actions, otherwise let them alone and excluded of this conflicts. Boxing is an honest and hard career, a way of living and support their family, so, why to add more victims to this tragedy?
To put pressure on Putin to stop the war, saying that I’m not agreeing with it but I do understand it.
Good point. There are Russian boxers, who may not agree with Putin’s motives, but yet, admire their heritage and country where they trained and prepared to fight as a way of living. Just because they are Russian, they should not be punished especially if they support peace.
Should we punish all Mexican fighters since their country is full of drug cartels exporting drugs to other countries? Really? Give me a break!
I’m by no means condoning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but what is this intended to accomplish, exactly? I get that people want to take a stand wherever they can, but this? This is feeble, at best.
This is preposterously stupid and in no way helps anyone. Russians and Belarusians can’t help where they were born. This crosses the line of racism, quite frankly. I support Ukraine and hope they take care of business, but hating on Russians simply for being Russian serves no benefit.
Where were they when the USA was bombing one country after another back to the stone age with their shock and awes, or Israel bombing the hell out all their neighbors?
Typical backwards thinking by another meddlesome sanctioning body. “We’re seeking peace by declaring economic war on Russian boxers.” Brilliant.
If Russian/Belarusian boxers are being held responsible for Putin’s actions, why aren’t Ukrainian/Polish boxers being held responsible for the African students/families that are being pulled off trains and left to die in Ukraine?
What type of stone age stuff is this? This is boxing not politics.
Wish sanctioning bodies had better education and knowledge of politics and history . WBA is commercial entity and strived on Russian money for decades
I’m not a boxer so I can’t say i know what happens behind closed doors, nor do I have any idea on what boxers do to prepare for a fight and earn a paycheck but I don’t understand why boxers just don’t get away from these sanctioning bodies. If the don’t have sanctioning fees coming, they won’t survive and they will go away. It’s very clear that a boxing event doesn’t need the blessing of the sanctioning bodies to carry on, why the need for their blessings. Timothy Bradley did it right, walked away from the WBC and did a little more than alright for himself.
I also understand the larger picture on what the WBA is attempting to do here, but:
” WBA reserves the right to exclude from its rankings boxers who are in favor of the war.”
– This statement is ridiculous.