AMATEUR boxing will have a drastic change starting in October as the international governing body International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) has adopted rules of professional boxing.
Starting in the AIBA World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, amateur boxers from all over the world will now fight without a head guard.
In addition, the scoring format will follow the 10-point system scoring used in the pros, replacing the computer punch-count system that was implemented after the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
?The decisions were made after extensive studies and discussions initiated by AIBA. We defer to their good judgment. Our boxers will make the adjustments,? Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) executive director Ed Picson told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Aside from this, AIBA also extended the age eligibility from 34 to 40 years old and will now allow professional boxers who have competed in the World Series of Boxing and the AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) to compete in the Olympics.
Although the new rule states that only those pro boxers who have less than 15 fights can fight in the Olympics, AIBA president Dr. Wu Ching-Kuo will make exceptions for boxing icons like Manny Pacquiao.
Picson already informed Pacquiao about the changes but the eight-division world champion is yet to commit.
There are still five judges in a match but only the scores of three judges will count.
They will be scoring 10-9 for a close round, 10-8 for clear dominance, 10-7 for total dominance and 10-6 for overmatched.
