AIBA may get rid of headguards after 2012 London Olympics

PanARMENIAN.Net - Amateur boxing would like to get rid of headguards after next year's London Olympics in a move that will take the sport ever closer to the professional version.

International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) president Wu Ching-Kuo also told Reuters in an interview that London 2012 will have a new scoring system to ensure fights cannot be manipulated.

The changes to scoring, making each ringside judge openly accountable for his actions, will be welcomed but any move to ditch head protection is sure to be controversial with the medical profession.

Wu said however that AIBA's new World Series of Boxing, which features bare-chested boxers without headguards and paid prize money, had led to a rethink of the traditional amateur approach. "I took a very big step introducing the WSB, introducing the professional competition with no headguard and no vest," declared the Taiwanese.

"The boxers are so happy. Without headguards they suddenly feel completely relaxed. It's a relief from this very tight thing on the head," he added, speaking at the SportAccord convention in London.

Wu said AIBA's medical commission planned to collate data from the first three seasons of WSB and then present it to the International Olympic Committee.

"In 2013, we will evaluate and then present it to the IOC medical commission," said Wu. "They will examine our data and the evidence we have collected. If they feel comfortable, then maybe (headguards will go).

Wu said AIBA had devised a new electronic scoring system to replace the one used at the 2008 Beijing Games, where there was fear that members of the organization or competition officials had tried to manipulate bouts.