Boxing: Kazakhstan wants new rules

The new rules will be tested at the nearest Kazakhstan Boxing Championship on November 22-29 in Astana. It is expected that these rules will bring back the visual appeal to the sport, Vesti.kz Kazakhstan sports website reports, citing Vice President of Kazakhstan Boxing Federation Serik Konakbayev as saying. According to him, amateur boxing bouts will be held without helmets and the shape of boxing gloves will be changed as well. There will be three referees, judging the bouts, same as in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) matches, instead of five referees that judge matches now. “We are on the verge of changes at present. Soviet school of boxing was famous for its tactics and it will become the most important thing once again,” Konakbayev said. Silver winner of the 1980 Olympics said that soon after the International Amateur Boxing Federation (AIBA) introduced the helmet as an obligatory part of boxer’s gear, the boxing lost its gusto and attractiveness. “The sport became safer, but lost most of its magnetism,” sports official say. Konakbayev also added that “the boxers’ health will be just fine as long as they keep to the right tactics.” The idea of changing the existing boxing rules was suggested in Bangkok last year. Timur Kulikbayev, Kazakhstan Boxing Federation president, was one of the authors of the idea.