(JAN 14) An ideal opportunity now exists for the AIBA to take the first steps towards including women’s boxing in their forthcoming AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) competition.

There is no good reason why for the 2014 season the AIBA cannot include women’s exhibition bouts in all of their APB tournaments, with a view to having a women’s tournament or a combined male-female programme on similar lines in 2015.

In fact with the additional interest created by the appearances of such as Olympic Gold medallists, Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor and Nicola Adams as well as other leading women, like Mery Kom, Marlen Esparza, Mikaela Mayer,Sofya Ochigava and Natasha Jonas to name but a few, it is likely that the attendances would actually increase significantly so can we look forward to a statement shortly from AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wuo confirming that this will happen in 2014 ?

Today’s statement from AIBA HQ announced the new APB format thus:

“The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is proud to reveal the official competition calendar of the ground-breaking AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) Competition, which will kick-off in June 2014.

At the end of January, the APB Boxers’ Selection and Ranking Committee will rank the final list of APB Boxers based on their past performances and potential. Then, the APB Program will officially start in June following two phases:

• Pre-Ranking Competition (June-July): Based on the first rankings established by the APB Boxers’ Selection and Ranking Committee, Boxers will compete at least twice (over six round of three minutes) and thus re-establish the World Rankings of each of the ten weight categories;

• Matches for Champions (August-December): Based on the rankings established by the Pre-Ranking Competition, Boxers will compete at least twice (over eight rounds of three minutes) with the best match for the very first APB World Champion Titles (12 rounds).

A total of 28 targeted AIBA National Member Federations have been contacted to host those historical first APB Ranking Events. They are proposed to organize those events over a total of four days with four bouts in each day by having one full weight category tournament.

“As President of AIBA and on behalf of the entire AIBA Family, I am extremely excited to announce the official commencement of our new revolutionary competition program”, stated Dr Ching-Kuo Wu. “It represents another step forward in the development of the noble art and I am proud that we have opened those historical first events to a bid within our National Federations. APB will reunite the pro boxing world with its grassroots, through a highly competitive, clean, structured and ethical competition, aligned with the principles of the Olympic Movement. I cannot wait to see the first APB Boxers taking to the ring and fight for the World Champion Titles”.