The first multi-module certification course for IBA leading officials took place at the European Boxing Academy in Assisi, Italy over the period 6-8 September. The course brought together talented IBA 3-Star Referees and Judges who aspire to become a part of the IBA professional series of events along with experienced International Technical Officials (ITOs), who were set to be tested and hopefully to be certified as IBA Technical Delegates with the relevant subject matter expertise to officiate at IBA Champions’ Night events in the future.

The newly designed course was aimed to equip officials with a deep understanding of the technical rules and regulations governing professional boxing. The course programme for R&Js consisted of both theoretical and practical components, covering important topics such as scoring criteria, movement and management in the ring, the R&J core model and profile, including ethics and behavior management, and those specifics related to the transition from amateur to professional officiating. The latter involved a series of dedicated exercises aimed at structuring the differences between the rules that are currently applied in amateur events and Champions’ Night bouts.

The theoretical part was followed by comprehensive application in the ring that was managed by our lead IBA Instructors: Mark Williams (Wales), Wayne Rose (Australia) and a pioneer in the professional boxing space, Steven Willis (USA). The practice involved simulation of different situations in the ring followed by a breakdown of analysis and explanation drills of the Referee’s actions in every specific scenario.

‘The Champions’ Night course was designed and set up to assist IBA officials to smoothly transition from amateur to professional officiating. The course was extremely successful and received excellent feedback. Continuous professional development will be ongoing with further assessments and evaluations to ensure that those high standards are maintained,’ Mark Williams said.

The Technical Delegate course incorporated two modules – a comprehensive programme covering all the aspects of IBA Technical Delegate work and responsibilities as well as a separate presentation dedicated to Champions’ Night management.

‘The IBA continues to develop our officials with these comprehensive and vital courses, in order to develop new Technical Delegates. IBA’s expansion of Champions’ Nights events has been extremely impressive, and has seen a need to grow our pool of officials; this course was aimed at producing the qualified personnel as Technical Delegates that will future proof the IBA professional events series. It also will qualify those respective officials to manage and coordinate IBA competitions,’ Wayne Rose claimed.