World Boxing president here for five-day working visit

Boris van der Vorst, president of World Boxing, arrived at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on Saturday night for a five-day visit.

“For me, it’s a great pleasure to be here in Jamaica. Thank you first of all for the warm welcome. The president for the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA), Stephen Jones, is a great friend of mine. He is a true supporter from the beginning for World Boxing. Jamaica is one of the pillars of boxing and they were part of the inaugural congress in 2023. And afterwards, the JBA was also one of the leaders from the Caribbean region, and together we hope to develop the boxing region,” said van der Vorst.

He believes Jamaica’s boxing will grow and develop new world champions under Jones’ leadership.

“I expect that, too, and that’s also why I’m here, to discuss the collaboration and how we can move forward after the recognition and re-inclusion of boxing in the Olympic programme, I think that that offers great opportunities for Jamaican boxing.”

Jones said he was pleased to host the World Boxing president, and had high expectations for his tenure at the helm.

“We’re very, very excited about not just his visit here, but what it means for the Caribbean, and boxing in general, now that it is official that the sport is going to be in the 2028 Olympics. Boxing is one of the oldest disciplines at the Olympic Games. So Boris, being the president, has galvanised a lot of the countries to form the international federation. The president making one of his first visits to the Caribbean is huge for us, so it is historical in many areas.”

Jones said that van der Vorst will see boxing at the grassroots level in Montego Bay and in Kingston. He will meet local stakeholders such as the minister of sports, the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) president, and members of the boxing fraternity.

Christopher Samuda, president of the JOA, who was on hand to welcome van der Vorst, said that having international sports presidents come to Jamaica is encouraged by his organisation.

“The Jamaica Olympic Association has always indicated to our members that one of our strategic goals is to transform Jamaica into a mecca not only of sport performance, but also for international federation presidents to be paying visits and looking at our administration and our operation. So this is part of the outgrowth of our foreign policy, to ensure that international presidents come here, are acquainted with our infrastructures, and then we can have a dialogue that will be beneficial to the Olympic Movement.”

Samuda also welcomed the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to readmit boxing into the Olympics.

“It had to be. Boxing has always been a staple sport on the international calendar, and I welcome the decision of the IOC to put it back on the agenda,” Samuda said.