Buttigieg welcomes World Boxing move but warns “more important things” remain

Gibraltar’s endorsement by the recently formed World Boxing organisation has been welcomed by Gibraltar’s three-time belt title holder Tyrone Buttigieg, albeit with some caution.

Mr Buttigieg, whose exploits in the ring have re-ignited the sport at a local level while catapulting Gibraltar onto the professional stage, was wary of shifting the focus away from addressing concerns over the local sport by overly celebrating the significance of entry into World Boxing.

Now a professional boxer who has had to carve his own pathway into the sport, mainly working outside Gibraltar following the many issues that hampered the sport until recent changes slowly started to take shape, Mr Buttigieg presented his own perspective on the latest announcement.

Reacting to Friday’s news, Mr Buttigieg told this newspaper: “I believe it’s a positive thing that the GBA has become an endorsed member of the new international governing body, World Boxing.

“However, I believe there are more important things to deal with. For example, it’s time for the GBA to start offering coaching courses to local clubs so that coaches become properly qualified.

“It is also time that we have qualified officials so that local clubs can host club shows and have the GBA supervise events without having to hire officials from other governing bodies.

“Most importantly, the GBA needs to hold insurance that covers competitors in the event of an accident. This is basic and paramount.

“I understand that the GBA has recently changed committee and there will be a process for them to set everything up.

“Gibraltar does not have any amateur boxers with enough experience to participate in World Boxing competitions.

“By sorting the points I have mentioned above, it will provide the foundation clubs need in order to obtain the experience required to evolve.

“This is a step in the right direction and I wish the GBA committee all the best moving forward.”

Having gained international recognition and a ranking within the top 20 in his category, Mr Buttigieg has also become a respected voice within the local boxing community, bringing with him growing experience as a professional.

Gibraltar now joins what remains a relatively new international organisation.

World Boxing was created in 2023 after the International Boxing Association (IBA, formerly AIBA) lost IOC recognition over governance, finance, and integrity concerns. A number of national federations broke away to create a new body that could keep boxing within the Olympic Games.

The IOC has since given provisional recognition to World Boxing, making it the likely governing body for Olympic boxing heading into the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Not to be confused with other long-established organisations, the key difference is that World Boxing is primarily an Olympic-style amateur boxing governing body, while the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Organization (WBO) are professional boxing sanctioning organisations that award world titles and belts.

World Boxing describes itself as “a not-for-profit international sports federation which aims to put the interests of boxers first and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.”

According to its official website, World Boxing states: “It was established by a group of like-minded individuals from a number of national federations across the world in response to the persistent issues surrounding Olympic-style boxing’s international governing body, whose failure to address the International Olympic Committee’s longstanding concerns over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management placed boxing’s future as an Olympic sport in doubt.

“World Boxing offers an alternative to this and was founded on the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence.

“The organisation is underpinned by rigorous governance practices and aims to create a sustainable and inclusive global sporting structure where boxers from around the world can compete and excel knowing that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair.

“It ensures the views of athletes are represented at the highest level and includes a male and female boxer with voting rights on its Executive Board.”

Publicly launched in April 2023, by the start of January 2025 World Boxing had approved membership applications from 60 national federations covering all five continents competing in the sport. It now has 76 members, with Gibraltar among them.

In September 2024, World Boxing established an Olympic Commission chaired by the President of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gennadiy Golovkin, to support and assist the process of developing a pathway to ensure boxing is fully restored within the Games structure.

World Boxing says it provides principled leadership to its members and is committed to delivering five key pledges designed to safeguard the future of both the sport and its athletes worldwide.

Its pledges include:

* Keeping boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement
* Ensuring the interests of boxers are put first
* Delivering sporting integrity and fair competition
* Creating a competition structure designed in the best interests of boxers
* Operating according to strong governance standards and transparent financial management

Gibraltar’s entry also means its boxers can now compete in the Commonwealth Games.