(Beijing, November 19) At a press conference held by the event organizing committee in Beijing on November 19, Ching-Kuo Wu, President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), revealed that the AIBA will set foot in professional boxing by establishing a world boxing union, with boxers signing agreements with their respective domestic boxing associations.

The AIBA Congress held on October 22, 2007 unanimously adopted the motion to establish the World Boxing Union. Due to the fact that the Olympic boxing and AIBA World Championships are all amateur boxing, boxers who have won Olympic medals will all be attracted to professional tournaments, and that once they have competed in a professional competition they will no longer be allowed to come back to the Olympic Games. "In this way," Wu said, "the association who has brought up the boxer will have nothing left after years of painstaking efforts. Moreover, it is often the case that the interests of the boxers who have entered the professional associations cannot be guaranteed. After the World Boxing Union is set up, the boxers from the world over can compete not only in the Olympic Games but professional boxing tournaments, which will help promote the development of both the boxing associations and boxers and, in the meantime, make sure the Olympic competition is of the highest level."