WBC to remove Russian, Belarusian boxers from rankings because of war in Ukraine
The World Boxing Council is taking its stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctioning body, which is holding its annual convention in Mexico, announced Tuesday that all fighters from Russia and Belarus will be removed from its rankings, according to multiple reports.
The WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO had already decided not to sanction fights in either of those countries. Belarus is an ally of Russia.
“All fighters from Russia and Belarus are being removed from the WBC rankings,” Sulaiman said at the convention Tuesday, according to Sky Sports. “The WBC will not sanction any fights in those two countries and no national citizen from those two countries can compete for a WBC championship title.
“I wish to express our deep regret for the athletes, for the promoters, for the members of the boxing industry from Russia and Belarus who will suffer with these consequences of the actions outside the ring. The WBC believes in peace, believes in fair play, and believes human dignity.”
The WBC will consider exceptions for Russian and Belarusian natives who live and train elsewhere, according to BoxingScene.com.
For example, 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol was born in Russia but has lived in the U.S. for many years. Another Russian light heavyweight titleholder, Artur Beterbiev, has made his home in Canada for close to a decade.
However, the WBC has stipulated that such fighters must have “rejected Russian’s actions” to be exempted.
Here is the wording of the ruling: “At the November 6, 2022 Board of Governors meeting, the board unanimously approved the resolution to remove all boxers from either of those countries from the world ratings. Any specific cases of nationals of either of those countries permanently residing in other countries, are citizens of other countries or are refugees, who have publicly rejected Russia’s actions in the current situation will have the right to petition the WBC to reconsider The WBC’s ruling is effective immediately and will stay in effect until such time when Ukraine is able to resume their normal boxing activities or when the WBC revisits its ruling.”
BoxingScene reported that Evgeny Romanov, a Russian, has been removed as the No. 1 bridgerweight contender. Cruiserweight contender Aleksei Papin of Russia also was removed from the rankings.
Many other sports organizations have banned or sanctioned Russian teams and athletes as a result of the war, which began in February and rages on.
