By Bockarie Allieu
FREETOWN, Aug 27 (SALONE TIMES) – Thanks to every one of you for being here with us today. We are very pleased to be able to welcome you all to this historic event hosted by our association
Today, we are gathered here to celebrate International Boxing Day, with the theme “Boxing Unite”and we can’t be more excited to have you all here to celebrate this wonderful day.
Before going further, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to all of you who generously helped us make this event a success. (The Sports Advocacy SL, AEA, UBA, my back room staff at my place of work, the SLBA secretariat and President Solomon Kargbo ….) We couldn’t have done it without you!
The Sierra Leone Boxing Association is a legally constituted body under the NSA, NOC and MOS charged with the responsibility of promoting, controlling, regulating, organizing and encouraging the sport in all its forms.
The SLBA is also affiliated to AFBC and aiba and operates in accordance with its rules and regulations.
Therefore, we are celebrating this significant event to timeline the August 17th to 30th, 1974, which was the first World Boxing Championship that took place in Cuba. That is why we think it is right to celebrate our professional holiday in this period.
Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing cushioned gloves, throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring.
Today, there are two main variants of boxing: amateur boxing and professional boxing. There are certain differences in the rules, but the main difference between amateur and professional boxing is that professional boxers fight for prize money, while for most amateur boxers, it is about the sport itself (and about developing skills and gaining experience to participate in professional bouts). It is amateur boxers who participate in the Olympic Games.
AIBA has united 204 national boxing associations from all inhabited continents. It organizes the AIBA World Boxing Championships, boxing tournaments at the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games (facilitated by the Olympic Task Force), and the World Series of Boxing, an international tournament that allows amateur boxers to compete professionally without losing their amateur status.
Therefore, as part of the reformation drive for global boxing, AIBA is launching the International Boxing Day to make explicit that boxing is the greatest of combat sports and also one of the oldest and most recognised sport discipline!
International Boxing Association has grown global importance, as it is on this day that affiliate associations of AIBA globally get to share great boxing stories, stage parades, and displays some boxing acts that we so cherish.
On this day, boxing enthusiasts around the world celebrate International Boxing Day (I know many might be confusing this day with the traditional Boxing Day which is known in SL for Athletics Association, but please don’t). This international observance was inaugurated in 2018 by AIBA.
Initially, AIBA designated July 22 to be celebrated every year and encouraged the global Boxing Family, fans, partners and stakeholders to join the force in celebrating.
It was celebrated on July 22 to coincide with National Boxing Day in Russia, established by the Russian Federation of Boxing. The Federation organized celebratory events and activities (mass boxing practices, boxing competitions) in many cities and towns across the country, and the main event took place in the Russian capital of Moscow.
A particularly big celebration took place in 2017, when 3,000 people gathered in Red Square and established a new Guinness World Record for the number of people practising boxing at the same time. The training session was led by double Olympic champions Aleksei Tishchenko and Oleg Saitov. Across Russia, 50,000 people came together to celebrate the sport of boxing.
Against this background…..Mr. Minister, Hon, I want to draw your attention to the latest development in boxing back home, as we awaits the handover of newly established gym in Bo to our Association by the NSA.
This is born out of a partnership contract the SLBA signed with the AEA in 2019. In the same year, they refurbished our gym here at the Siaka Steven stadium; bringing a new ring to change the 38-year-old we had by then.
Finally, it will be a remiss on my part, if I fail to acknowledge certain persons and institutions, whose support the SLBA has employed over the years to keep us going:
Mercury International, Dr. Julius Spencer, Mr. Rodney Edmond Michael, Mr Babadi Kamara, again, the Sports Advocacy SL and finally the media.
The International Boxing Day Celebration will end today fights in various weight categories at the Siaka Steven Stadium Boxing gym in Freetown.
