ATR First: Date Set for Olympic Boxing Congress

(ATR) The dispute between Olympic boxing president CK Wu and the sport’s Interim Management Committee intensifies with a no confidence vote against Wu set for November.

A spokesperson for the IMC tells Around the Rings in exclusive comments that an AIBA Extraordinary Congress will be held in Dubai from Nov. 11-13.

At AIBA’s July 24-25 Executive Board meeting in Moscow, 13 members approved the establishment of the IMC led by AIBA vice president Franco Falcinelli. The IMC then recommended the motion of no confidence be delivered to the 201 National Federations at an Extraordinary Congress.

The IMC has taken control of AIBA offices in Lausanne which opened Wednesday after being shut for a week and guarded by security.

Nearly all employees are back at work except for AIBA executive director William Louis-Marie and sports director Philippe Tuccelli who ATR is told are on vacation.

AIBA president CK Wu tells ATR he has brought legal action against the IMC for what he considers an illegal takeover of AIBA.

IMC spokesperson Pat Fiacco confirms to ATR that Wu is indeed working in the AIBA offices along with the IMC with intent to maintain its regular business operations. He clarifies that the office was reopened by the IMC, not president Wu.

Fiacco is one of the five member Interim Management Committee in Lausanne this week overseeing operations at the AIBA headquarters. Once a bantamweight fighter, he has been involved with Olympic-style boxing in Canada ever since his days as an athlete and served as mayor of Regina, Saskatchewan.

"We have an obligation, a fiduciary obligation to take care of AIBA," Fiacco tells ATR. "The president talks about the AIBA Congress electing him. Well, the Congress elected us, too, to lead the organization.

"We’re not satisfied, nor would anyone else feel that it’s all okay, with the organization struggling with a $5 million debt this year alone. We have no choice but to act on this."

The IMC expects a Swiss court ruling to be delivered later today on whether the AIBA executives had the right to seize control of the organization and day-to-day operations until the Extraordinary Congress.

The crux of the spat between AIBA executives and the federation president is alleged financial mismanagement by Wu which the IMC believes a KPMG report will reveal in detail. The IMC says it expects the report to confirm that AIBA has a cumulative debt of nearly $15.5 million.

Wu refutes the mismanagement claims and intends to deliver a report to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board meeting in London on Aug. 4. As a member of the IOC Executive Board, the IOC will closely monitor the allegations levied against Wu.

"For your information, the financial allegations against me are groundless," he tells ATR. "I am very confident of that."

At this point, it seems Wu should be more concerned with the confidence of the 201 National Federations in his abilities as president.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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