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≡ USA BOXING ANNUAL MEETING ≡
The annual members meeting for USA Boxing was held online on 22 January and included a 59-slide presentation which framed 2024 as a continued year of growth for the organization, with an important investment in the future for Olympic boxing.
One of the key slides showed that membership has continued to increase and has rebounded strongly from the pandemic year of 2020:
● 2019: 50,631 total members
● 2020: 36,006 (pandemic)
● 2021: 46,311
● 2022: 50,240
● 2023: 59,850
● 2024: 65,712
Integral to this continuing growth was the number of athlete members, which was 37,192 in 2019, then dropped to 24,450 members in 2020. For 2024, growth continued for a fourth consecutive year, reaching 46,246, an 89% increase over the pandemic low.
This was noted as a record for the federation, for boxers, clubs and non-athlete members. The same growth was seen for the number of member clubs and sanctioned events:
● 2019: 2,044 clubs and 1,374 events
● 2020: 1,873 clubs and 341 events (pandemic)
● 2021: 2,077 clubs and 914 events
● 2022: 2,453 clubs and 1,610 events
● 2023: 2,649 clubs and 1,423 events
● 2024: 2,837 clubs and 1,853 events
Coaching development was also a priority, with 23 “Bronze” clinics that certified 291 coaches and 10 “Silver”-level clinics, that produced 98 certified coaches. The first “Gold”-level clinics will be held in March 2025.
A total of 1,339 boxers and 1,084 coaches took part in the USA Boxing national championships in Richmond, Virginia in December.
The slides showed cash sponsorships at $200,000 or less through 2022, but zooming to more than $1.1 million in 2023 and right at $1 million in 2024, both considerably better than in prior years.
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USA Boxing is not a wealthy federation, but it is doing better. Its audited financial statements for 2023 showed assets up to $5.70 million, a 53% jump from 2022, with annual revenues of $9.46 million, way up from $6.91 million in 2022.
But the federation also knows its future is in jeopardy. USA Boxing left the International Boxing Association in 2023, and the IBA was removed by the International Olympic Committee as the governing body for Olympic boxing.
USA Boxing was one of the first federations to support the creation of a new worldwide body, World Boxing, which was organized in 2023 and now has 68 members, trying for recognition by the IOC as soon as March of this year. The retention of boxing on the Olympic program for Los Angeles in 2028 requires that the IOC recognize a new governing body.
To that end, the 2023 financials disclosed USA Boxing’s financial support for World Boxing:
● “During the year ended December 31, 2023, [USA Boxing] spent approximately $200,000 to assist in the creation of World Boxing, including various professional fees and travel related to the creation of the new entity. The professional fees specifically are considered credits towards USA Boxing’s 2024 annual contribution.
“All national federations for the sport of Boxing have been asked to contribute towards the cost of establishing this organization.”
● “During the year ended December 31, 2023, USA Boxing offered a revolving line of credit to World Boxing for the maximum loan amount of $250,000. The purpose of this loan is to assist World Boxing with its costs in establishing the new international federation.
“No amounts were drawn by World Boxing under arrangement until 2024.”
In the member meeting slides, a question about the loan was answered:
“Yes, USA Boxing loaned World Boxing $250,000 which will be paid back over the next five years. Yes, it was approved [by the Board of Directors].”
The future of boxing for LA28 is fully dependent on the recognition of World Boxing as the new International Federation for the sport, so this was an investment that USA Boxing had little choice but to make with enthusiasm.
Whether it will pay off won’t be known until the IOC Session in March at the earliest.
Observed: There was nothing especially fancy about this presentation, but it was forthright and solid and was missing only the financial statements for 2024, which won’t be ready until mid-year.
Every U.S. national federation would be well advised to make such a clear, concise presentation of its achievements in the prior year and plans for the new year, especially in terms of membership, programming and sponsorship advances (or declines).
Good for USA Boxing to do so now. Hopefully, others will follow.
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