AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 25
Join us on our on-going exploration of the Olympics to be held in Tokyo 2021, featuring Christian from the Friday Night Panel, and the route to the ring. Watch TalkinFight weekdays at 12, 4, 7, and 8:30pm EST on YouTube or LIVE at talkinfight.com/live @Olympic @IOC Media
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Transcribed:
Hello talking fight fans around the world, welcome to another episode of olympic boxing featuring christian from the friday night panel, who gives us our monday to friday, update on what’s happening on the boxing scene for the upcoming olympics in tokyo 2021.
What do you got today, uh? Well, like everyone else, who’s managed to uh google anything about the games today.
Unfortunately, the only thing anyone’s really talking about is not boxing at the moment, but uh rather the untimely passing of el salvadorian surfer, catherine diaz uh.
It’S all over the news right now.
Uh, miss diaz was killed after being struck by lightning, while training for a qualifying event for the tokyo olympics just over the weekend.
So the 22 year old was struck just after entering the water on friday at el tunco beach about 10 miles or 16 kilometers south of the capital.
San salvador uh, that’s as it was reported by local media diaz, had been preparing for the isa world surfing games which are due to be held from may 29th to the 6th at lobocanna and ml sunsal beaches in el salvador uh.
Now, for this tournament, the top seven women at that event, who have not already qualified for the olympics, we’re gon na earn us are going to earn a spot at the delayed tokyo games where surfing is going to be featured for the very first time as a Metal sport so uh, you know thoughts and prayers for the diaz family and, like everyone else, that’s that’s.
The big story out of the olympics today is the unfortunate uh passing of an athlete in her prime who we would have been seeing at this upcoming olympic games.
Well, what a way to go! Um out of curiosity with the buenos aires uh qualifiers coming up in may.
Have you been hearing anything from any of the national teams that are preparing for that qualifying tournament? Uh they’ve been pretty quiet so far you know.
Most teams are in camps at this point in time and are training pretty hard, so teams that you know you talk about the us and about canada, you don’t you’re not seeing them like.
You are some of these european teams at these larger events that are happening right now, but they’re definitely they’re in training, camp and they’re working toward with uh those qualifiers as the immediate goal, because they’re coming up sooner than you think it’s just a couple of weeks Off and i’m really looking forward to that because then we’re going to start to see a more clearer picture of what our olympics are going to look like after we see the uh rescheduled european qualifier in paris as well as the argentina americas.
Qualifier then we’ll have all of our qualifiers done.
We’Ll have our new system set up under the uh with the canceled paris world qualifier we’ll have everyone kind of the rankings will be sent in and then we’ll have a full picture of what those cards are going to look like for the olympics.
So but i haven’t heard too much: there hasn’t been too much uh, saber rattling or anything like that going on just yet from the americas, but we will keep you posted as it does uh move along, but moving back a little bit into the world of actual Boxing itself then um, although not specifically olympic olympic, champion istavan kovacs, who we’ve talked about, i believe, on the friday night panel with uh he’s one of the greats out of hungary, and we talked with andrew toth on our friday night panel, a few weeks back, although I believe at the time he did pronounce it ish.
I apologize to any hungarians watching this and you know have a go at me in the comments section.
Uh we’re gon na stick with the english pronunciation.
For now.
Just for ease of you know me uh, but olympic olympic champion isthavenkovic has been appointed as the secretary general of the international boxing association.
So that’s the aiba uh, the hungarian, who won bantamweight gold at atlanta at the atlanta 1996 olympics, was approved to assume the role by aiba board of directors.
Just yesterday, so kovacs is going to take up the position this week and is poised to play a pivotal role in the embattled organization’s attempt to be reinstated as the olympic governing body for boxing.
All of our news today actually comes to us from inside the game.
Stop is if you’re looking to find uh more on this story here so kovacs, who also managed to win two world titles and a bronze medal in barcelona back in 92 said, i’m very grateful for the confidence placed to me by the aiba board of directors.
It is a great honor and, at the same time, a great responsibility to become the secretary general of the international boxing association and to work together with president umar kremlev, a man who lives boxing now aiba is undergoing a period of global reforms, all of them necessary For boxing to develop as a sport loved by millions of people around the globe, so that our athletes and coaches show the best results in international competitions at all levels, i see that the new aiba leadership is headed in the right direction and is committed to working With full dedication to support and reinforce this course of positive change now he went on to say i pledge to act with best interests of boxing and guarantee maximum openness and democracy.
In my work, i’m sure that together we will be able to carry out all necessary reforms to bring the aiba to a fundamentally new level.
It’S all good news out of there uh when advertising for this position, the aiba said that the secretary general will oversee the administrative work of the organization while managing the head office in lusan and report directly to uh president umar kremlev.
So this is this: nobody served as this role since tom vergeretz was removed as executive director, which was a similar position in august of 2019, after a vote by the executive committee, which has since rebranded itself as the board of directors, so the american uh vergettes took The job in january of 2018, replacing frenchman, william louis marie kremlev, claimed that kovacs will bring quote a fundamentally new efficiency level and transparency to the manage to management.
That’S of the aiba, of course, we’re talking uh, which, as we know, then we’ve talked a few times on.
The show has been stripped of its olympic status by the ioc in uh back in june of 2019 over issues, including governance, finance, anti-doping, refereeing and judging so you know, then, as such this white’s not overseeing the current tokyo 2020 olympics.
Instead, we’re uh we’ve kind of got this uh boxing task force.
That’S been put together, ad hoc that we’re kind of stuck with for this particular games.
So hopefully this is gon na we’re gon na see a return.
Uh comparison 2024 of the aiba administering this to this tournament, properly uh.
He also sorry he went kremlif went on to say that the fate of our organization has to be decided and will be decided by the boxers themselves.
They have dedicated their entire lives to boxing and they know it from the inside and understand the needs for our sport and the effect of development and its defect, effective development better than any managers.
Therefore, i am pleased to announce that the board of directors have approved ista van kovacs as aiba secretary general.
If the van kovacs is a two-time, i can still quote from kremlov is a two-time world champion and olympic champion? Boxing is life and aiba is family to him.
I’M positive that as secretary general, he will be able to bring the aiba to a fundamentally new efficiency level and transparency of management.
So kremlov himself, uh was the former secretary of the russian boxing federation and, as part of the sweeping reforms that we’ve been seeing with the aiba, was appointed as the president of the aiba.
Just this past december, uh kovacs on top of having just a stellar career uh, both professionally and amateur, was previously a member of the budapest 2024 summer and paralympic games bid committee uh before the hungarian capital withdrew from that race and the uh the tournament being awarded To paris for 2024.
, so it’s all good news and uh.
You know part of these sweeping reforms we’ve seen uh.
They started up new uh, so several new committees, i know mary comb we talked about – was just appointed as head of one of the committees um.
So we’re seeing big things happening with the aipa and i think there’s a good chance that we’re gon na see them reinstated and we’ll see them putting together not only the paris 2024 games, but also the qualifiers leading up to that game.
Those games they’ve been demonstrating over the last little while better than most that it is capable you’re capable of holding.
You know international boxing tournaments and things like that, even during with our current health restrictions and that that are still successful, where we still are able to take into account the safety uh above all else, the safety of athletes and uh their corner to the you know, The athletes corner and their support staff.
So that’s all good news out of the boxing world uh, but that’s about all we’ve got for today, other than that, it’s been fairly quiet on the international front for uh qualifications, for big big matches happening and uh.
No further news on anyone else being replaced, moved or kicked out or venues cancelled or any other stuff to keep our fingers crossed that we don’t read in our morning headlines these days.
You know andrew toss spoke very highly of uh, mr kovacs, coco.
You know it should have gone coco that was his nickname, pronounced.
Most of our viewers will know him as coco yeah yeah andrew spoke highly of him and spoke how passionate he was about the sport so combining a level of integrity uh.
I think hank obviously be the right man for the job or or the right person for the job uh, and i look forward to his resolve and see what happens.
Nothing bad well.
He like he like uh kremlev, are gon na be under a new level of scrutiny because, obviously i said we’re trying to reinstate at this point in time, so they’re gon na have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they’ve taken care of you know, because that Was basically every last half you know avenue was under investigation at this point in time, judging reffing doping uh, just everything about it was a little off, so these guys are going to be under such scrutiny, so to bring on guys like umar kremlov, to bring on Coco and see it works uh to bring on coco to bring on kremlov and to bring on you know, mary comb and people who are well known currently in the boxing world, and you know who agreed to put be put under this microscope that they’re going to Be put under in order to get these games reinstated.
I think it’s great and i think they’re going to have to uh commit themselves to a certain degree of transparency to see that uh goal realized, but i think they’re capable yeah.
I agree good stuff.
Well, thanks.
Very much for the update and the news and sad news out of the surfing world, but much better news out of the boxing world, and i guess we’ll see you tomorrow then sounds good.
We’Ll talk, then thanks very much christian
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