(From left to right) Qatar Boxing Federation president Yusuf Ali al-Kazim, AIBA president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu and AIBA executive director Karim Bouzidi at a press conference on Thursday evening.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
When the International Boxing Association (AIBA) banned headgear for male boxers in 2014, the idea was that the protection of headgear prompted boxers to absorb more hits to their head during a match.
By taking away the headgear, refs can decide to stop the match when they deem it unsafe for the athletes. And when the boxers lower their heads to hide their injuries, often the refs ask them to keep their “heads up”.
“Boxing is not just about punching the opponent but about safety too. It is to learn to move, to protect yourself, while keeping your heads up. That is what we want to tell the younger generation. Raise your head, respect your opponent, carry on with your life keeping values in mind,” said AIBA executive director Karim Bouzidi.
AIBA’s executive committee, including president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu and Bouzidi, was in Doha for their meeting and also an inspection of Qatar’s preparation for the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships in October.
On Thursday evening, after the meeting, that Dr Wu and Bouzidi announced the launch of AIBA new programme ‘Heads Up’ in presence of Qatar Boxing Federation president Yusuf Ali al-Kazim and the media.
While details about the programme are expected in the coming months, Bouzidi says: “Boxing is not just two boxers fighting to win. Boxing can be used just like football is to impart values, sportsmanship to the young generation. Boxing is about ethics, values, education.
“This programme is intended to change the perception of boxing around the world through many initiatives, including social, educational and sporting.
“Our president is very concerned about the safety of boxers. Heads up is a warning we give to the boxers to keep their heads up while they compete. It is also a way of life, wherein we tell people to think what they are doing and whether it is the right thing. We will pay attention to health and also to the development of the sport. Boxing is a huge way to educate the people.”
According to Bouzidi, the target audience for the programme is everyone. It is expected to involve aspects of fitness and education.
“We launched it here in Qatar. The first initiative, as part of the programme, is aimed at the athletes. You know that we have removed the headgear for the safety of the athlete, as you can easily understand,” Bouzidi, who is also the chief executive officer of AIBA’s World Series Boxing, said.
“Heads Up is a campaign which will try and draw the attention of people through media, sponsors and consequently also help in development of the sport.”
