PRESIDENT Stephen Jones says the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) is still awaiting word from international authorities about their schedule for 2025 before deciding a date for its national championship.

The tournament, which comprises amateurs from gyms across the island and in the Diaspora, is normally staged yearly, at some point between October and February, but with 2024 mere days away from ending, no word has yet been given to stakeholders about the next staging.

The national champions in their respective weight classes would also be chosen to represent Jamaica at various tournaments regionally and internationally, especially with the intent to qualify for the next Olympic Games.

“Generally, it would be soon,” Jones told the Jamaica Observer earlier this week. “Early January is when we’d be shooting to host it but right now it’s on hold because we’re waiting until the final decision is made from the IOC [International Olympic Committee] as to what the road to the Olympics will look like.”

This “road”, as he describes it, would consist of other major regional sporting events such as the Pan American Games and others that are overseen by the IOC.

Boxing at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer was controlled by IOC in the absence of an official boxing governing body. This was because IOC withdrew its recognition of International Boxing Association (IBA) on various grounds, including what IOC perceived as a lack of financial transparency and sustainability. IOC also had issues with IBA’s processes relating to the selection of referees and judges as this brought its integrity into question.

IOC then threatened to remove boxing as one of its sporting disciplines at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 if a new body was not recognised to control the sport. This is because IOC did not want further responsibility for running the tournament.

But the threat of no boxing at the Games has lessened, with World Boxing expected to be officially recognised by IOC early next year.

“Right now, World Boxing is the only body that seems to be on the path to get recognition from the IOC, and we should know that by March,” Jones said. “After World Boxing is recognised, then they’ll tell us which games are on the calendar next year and then we’ll work around that to see which teams we’re sending to which games. We’re waiting until the higher-ups confirm where they are with the road to the Olympics.”

Although there is uncertainty regarding the calendar of events for 2025, the question remains whether JBA could and should still host the national championships. Some stakeholders argue that a tournament should still be staged before knowing the international calendar, as being crowned champions gives boxers and their gyms credibility. But Jones says staging the tournament is not that simple, as it regards finances, especially for competitors.

“Resources definitely aren’t unlimited so we have to make the best decisions when it comes to resources,” he said. “Remember, nationals usually entails us inviting all boxers from the Diaspora to come down as well. For them to take that expense to come down to the nationals usually has to be to their best interest, knowing that if they win they’ll be representing our country on the international stage.”

Jones says it would not be fair to those Diaspora boxers to compete without a purpose or way forward.

“For now, we’re just going to maintain having monthly shows where all gyms are welcome and to keep our boxers active,” he said. “When every direction has been properly laid, we can look at the calendar to see where we’re targeting first to send a team.”

Jamaica’s last representative at an Olympic Games was Ricardo “Big 12” Brown, who competed in the Men’s Super Heavy +91kg class at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the summer of 2021. He also won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in 2019.