Time “B” for Ukrainian boxing. What you need to know about the main winter scandal of Ukrainian sports

On Wednesday, February 22, an extraordinary reporting and election conference of the Boxing Federation of Ukraine will be held, which is convened by the Initiative Group “Ukrainian Boxing. Reappointment”. As of Tuesday evening, 15 regional federations out of 25 that are members of the FBU, who disagree and do not recognize the results of the reporting and election conference of the FBU, held on December 17, 2021, confirmed their participation in it. The current leadership of the Federation has already stated that it will consider the upcoming conference legitimate, threatened its participants with sanctions and has already “disqualified” two regions. We tell you what is happening in one of the most popular and medal-winning Ukrainian sports.

Why the conflict

Representatives of the initiative group insist that there was no quorum at the reporting and election conference held in December (by the way, it was postponed both in date and place – it was originally supposed to be held in November in Vinnytsia). Namely – 2/3 representatives of regional federations. Which, in fact, is confirmed by the leadership of the FBU – according to their protocols, representatives of 13 regional cells attended the conference (later, according to the lawyer of the Initiative Group, Mikhail Goncharenko, it turns out that the Ivano-Frankivsk Federation did not have the right to vote).

However, the FBU insists that, according to the Charter of the Federation, a decision is considered legitimate if 2/3 of those present at the conference voted for it, and regional organizations that did not send their representatives exercised the right not to participate in the elections. However, as the Initiative Group assures, even for the opening and holding of the reporting and election conference, the presence of 2/3 of the collective members is necessary.

Nevertheless, on December 17, at the conference, Volodymyr Prodivus, who has been heading the Boxing Federation of Ukraine since 2008, was re-elected for a new term. By the way, the conference itself was held in the office of Mostobud, a company headed by Prodivus. We will return to this.

Was the decision not to go to the conference among representatives of regional federations spontaneous?

Partly. According to our information, and the members of the Initiative Group themselves do not hide this, dissatisfaction with the work of the leadership of the Boxing Federation, and in particular its president, has been ripening for a long time. Moreover, a group of regional federations put forward their own candidate for the elections – the head of the Kyiv city organization Kirill Shevchenko. However, it was not registered, claiming a violation of regulatory norms.

The last straw was the violations in the organization of the reporting and election conference on December 17th. According to representatives of the Initiative Group, they were notified about the new date of the conference literally a week before it was held, and they simply did not have time to physically hold their conferences, having elected delegates with the right to vote. It should be noted that initially the FBU conference was to be held in Vinnitsa, the hometown of Prodivus, but under public pressure it was moved to Kyiv. And yes, to the office of Mostobud, which is also reproached to the current president of the FBU.

Why are the regions dissatisfied with the leadership of the FBU?

The accusations against the current leaders of the Federation sounded very different. These are the usurpation of power, the non-transparent selection to national teams, the literally illegal dismissal of specialists – the former head coach of the youth national team of the country Alexander Astapchuk, his application for dismissal was simply forged, the non-transparency of the distribution of financial resources allocated, by the way, by the state, the lack of proper conditions for members of the national team and a minimum of allocated funds for regional tournaments.

According to the representatives of the Initiative Group, they often provide national teams for various tournaments at the expense of their federations or their sponsors. By the way, both former and current boxers of the national teams made claims against the current leadership of the Federation, but more on that below.

What do the FBU say?

The Federation claims that all questions regarding the functioning of the national teams and the judiciary are closed, albeit with a delay. The reason is the distribution of funds from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which are received according to the schedule, and not on the dates of the tournaments. They hope for an increase in the number of national teams, both in terms of the age limit, and the emergence of women’s teams.

According to the leaders of the FBU, there are representatives of Ukraine in many commissions of the International Boxing Association (AIBA). By the way, Prodivus himself is the vice-president of the European Boxing Confederation and a member of the AIBA Executive Committee, which is headed by the Russian Umer Kremlev, for whom Ukraine voted in the presidential elections of the International Association, and the video with which the current leader with the statement about “fraternal peoples” caused a huge resonance.

Who is against the current leadership of the FBU?

Initially, representatives of the Kyiv regional, Kyiv city, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Odessa, Chernihiv and Donetsk boxing federations expressed their disagreement with the policy and decisions of the current leadership of the FBU. Later, according to the representatives of the Initiative Group, they were supported by three more regional federations. At the same time, according to representatives of the Initiative Group, boxers representing their federations brought up to 80% of all awards won by Ukrainian fighters during the year.

In addition, former titled amateur boxers, and now well-known professionals, spoke out against Prodivus or “for change”, in particular, Evgeny Khitrov, Denis Berinchyk, Viktor Vykhrist, Dmitry Mitrofanov, current member of the Ukrainian national team Yaroslav Khartsyz, ex-world champions among the pros – Yuriy Nuzhnenko, Viktor Postol, Andrey Kotelnik, Vyacheslav Senchenko, Vladimir Klitschko.

How does the FBU react?

Sanctions and appointments of their representatives. Initially, the Control and Disciplinary Commission of the FBU decided to exclude the Rivne and Zhytomyr regional federations from the Federation, and the membership of the Kharkiv, Kyiv regional, Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad and Kyiv city federations was suspended for two months with the deprivation of the right to perform the functions of a collective member (local branch) of the FBU .

The very creation of the Initiative Group was recognized by the Federation as unlawful, and all its decisions were worthless. In the two disqualified areas, the FBU has appointed its representatives, who, quoting the official website of the FBU, “will be directly involved in the development of boxing on the spot.”

Was it possible to reach an agreement?

Both sides say they wanted dialogue. However, the leadership of the FBU insists that members of the Initiative Group deliberately sabotaged the December 17 conference. Those, in turn, say that they invited representatives and the President of the Boxing Federation of Ukraine to their meetings, and also repeatedly tried to meet with Volodymyr Prodivus, but he avoided talking.

What will happen now?

As noted, compromise appears to be impossible. On February 22, the Initiative Group will hold a convened eTime “B” for Ukrainian boxing. What you need to know about the main scandal of Ukrainian sports and an extraordinary reporting and election conference. For a quorum, according to the current FBU charter, the presence of 17 representatives of regional federations is required. If this happens, the decisions of the conference will be recognized as legitimate. If a quorum cannot be collected, it is not clear how Ukrainian boxing will continue to live with such a split, when the majority of regional federations do not want and will not work with the current leadership of the FBU.

In turn, the FBU threatens with sanctions from the IAB against Ukrainian boxing, stating the need to challenge all decisions in the Sports and Arbitration Court. According to our information, the Initiative Group has already applied to civil courts, and after the reporting and election Conference will seek recognition of its decisions in the ministries of Youth and Sports and Justice.