On how critical it is to join the Olympic movement, Van der Vorst said that it’s not just about funding or being part of a multi-sport event once in four years, it’s bigger than that. “Being part of an Olympic movement is crucial for the existence of the national federations,” he said. The WB chief cited an example. “I was visiting a boxing gym in India a few months ago and I saw the real hunger from young boxers there. I asked one of those boxers, ‘What is your biggest dream?’, he said, “I want to be an Olympian for India. That’s why we want to keep the Olympic dream alive for every boxer.”

Speaking about controversies surrounding dubious refereeing decisions he said the WB would be addressing that. “One of the focus areas is fair officiating that the best boxer wins, not the most influential national federation,” he said and gave the example of the boxing event in Paris. “What the boxing task force IOC has done until now is managing the officials in a way that you close the gaps for corruption as much as possible. We also have to develop and engage modern technology to make judging more transparent and fair,” he mentioned. The WB has started conducting tournaments and has already started pilot projects to see how refereeing and judging can evolve. “We will make use of technology to make the bouts fair.”

On India’s role

“India joining the WB made a serious difference. A boxing powerhouse joining WB is important. You can see that India is reaching out in their region to other national federations, to discuss with them the international developments and whether they could join WB. I think India should play a leading role in boxing both regionally and hopefully also globally. I really appreciate the leadership of the current National Federation of India. President Ajay Singh and his team are doing everything that they can do to make World Boxing successful,” Van der Vorst praised India.

Whether the power would shift from Central Asian powerhouses like Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan would depend on India. He believes for that shift of power India also needs to work hard.

On transgender athletes in boxing

“I think it’s more important for now that the PBU (Paris Boxing Unit) is running this tournament and they have done their homework. They have done everything that they can do to monitor the situation and there were no formal complaints during competitions last year. They competed in boxing competitions like the World Championships. It’s really important to stress that the event is being conducted by the PBU. But for us (WB) it is important that the safety of the boxers is above everything.”

Van der Vorst said that the situation is evolving and they would task their medical commission to further investigate and study this before making a policy that would also keep in mind the inclusivity side of it.

He also explained the rationale for allowing boxers to participate in the IBA events. “We are in a transitional period and I cannot look into the future how long it will take for recognition or this participation will last. When we get professional recognition maybe then we will see.”

At the same point, he also pointed out that the Americas are set. NSFs of Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Panama, Canada and the USA are with them. “Asia is developing and big NFS are now joining World Boxing. In Europe with the Nordic countries and England, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany and now Italy, it’s looking good. Especially with Western Europe too showing interest. Oceania is good with Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Tulu. Africa is more difficult. We have Nigeria. We will have one or two more from Africa soon and we can announce but Africa is frozen and the more difficult continent,” the WB chief explained.

Yet he believes that by October things will be in place.