WORLD Boxing President Boris van der Vorst will begin an official visit to the island on Saturday when he lands at Donald Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. He will depart on Tuesday April 2.

Van der Vorst will get the opportunity to see, first-hand, Jamaica’s boxing on display in Montego Bay when he visits the Jamaica Boxing Board’s gym in the second city. He will also see the schools’ programme which is under development at St Andrew Technical High School in Kingston.

The Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) says van der Vorst will be exposed to some of Jamaica’s loved cultural spaces to experience what it describes as the warmth, beauty, culinary delights and essence of the island. Additionally, he will be involved in discussions with stakeholders in the sports and boxing community to strengthen, support and endorse the development of the sport.

JBA President Stephen Jones welcomes van der Vorst’s visit.

“Jamaica will be welcoming the president of World Boxing for the very first time, which is a really big deal especially with boxing now officially included in the 2028 Olympic Games,” Jones said. “We’ve been putting in the work here — the entire boxing fraternity from the grass roots level right up to the elite — and I’m very proud that Jamaica is playing its part in boxing development across the region. So, a regional goal is to make the Caribbean a real force to be reckoned with on the global stage, and having the president here gives us a chance to show what we’re building and, hopefully, get his endorsement before he leaves, so we are looking forward to welcoming him for a couple days.”

JBA describes van der Vorst as an experienced and passionate boxing administrator with a track record of transformative leadership and an accomplished entrepreneur in the health-care industry.

It says he has what it considers a rich history and commitment to keeping boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement and fostering its sustainable development. That, it says, was the driving force behind his desire to keep boxing in the Olympics when he became a founding member of World Boxing and its first president in 2023.

The JBA says van der Vorst sees Jamaica as an important plank in the development of the sport of boxing in the Caribbean region and the world.