Russia’s Umar Kremlev becomes International Boxing Association President

Umar Kremlev of Russia was elected as the President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) on Saturday, despite clear concerns of the Olympic Committee officials about his candidacy.

As confirmed by AIBA, Kremlev won by 57% of the vote in a contest that involved five candidates and voted by 155 international federations.

The AIBA was stripped off its responsibility to organize boxing at the Summer Games last year by the International Olympic Committee. They had concerns over the AIBA’s integrity of Olympic bouts, finance and governance.

Kremlev’s appointment has now further increased the AIBA’s problem of regaining their recognition before the Paris Olympics in 2024. The IOC has already taken away AIBA’s rights of organizing the men’s and women’s tournaments and qualifying events next year.

“Boxing is the sport of fighters. Our fight today is against financial debt, against incompetence, against corruption, against doping, against poor training, and against poor safety,” Kremlev said.

“Strengthening AIBA’s governance structures, and ensuring our checks and balances work, will be the focus of my tenure as president,” added.

The newly elected Kremlev had been the President of the Russian Boxing Federation since 2017. He also mentioned that getting rid of AIBA’s debt will be one of his first priorities.

Getting rid of AIBA’s debt will be the first priority,” Kremlev told voters on Saturday, in a statement released by the governing body based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“My administration will aim to raise $50 million within two years, all of which will be used to rebuild AIBA.”

Kremlev is supposed to complete the presidential term of Gafur Rakhimov, who was allegedly involved in international heroin trafficking, as reported by American authorities. Rakhimov, however, has denied all the allegations. He was elected two years ago by the AIBA members, who had defied IOC warnings once again.