The world regularly gets to see the best Ukrainian boxing has to offer on pay-per-view, but the ‘behind the scenes’ footage reveals a simmering soap opera ready to boil.
If there’s one sport Ukraine has earned a sterling reputation abroad for – it’s boxing.
Olympic gold medallists, world champions – even political leaders – have all made a name for themselves through the sport.
But according to a significant group of regional federations, maybe that shouldn’t be the case.
And it has Boxing Federation of Ukraine (FBU) Secretary General, Ilya Gurovich, incensed.
“We can only guess at the real motives of those who are now fueling this hysteria”, Gurovich said in a statement posted on the FBU website.
“Although, I guess, boxing for these people is not the main priority – more important to them is their own ambitions.“
Since 2008, the FBU has been led by President Volodomyr Prodivus, a businessman and former member of parliament for the Party of Regions under Victor Yanukovich.
He was re-elected to a new four-year term on December 17th in a disputed vote.
Coronation Street
Representatives from 11 regions (Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Kirovograd, Kyiv City, Kyiv Oblast, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, and Zhytomyr) did not participate in the election, calling into doubt whether quorum was reached.
For quorum, two-thirds of the 24 regions must be present. The dissenting group says the FBU only collected 14 – two of which the group called into question.
“A leftist voted from the Sumy region federation [and] the President of the Poltava region, Mikhail Melnyk, was at home – but the FBU also took his vote into account”, said Kirill Shevchenko, President of the Kyiv City federation and the main opposition candidate to Prodivus, at a press conference held on December 22nd, after the vote.
“The federation grossly violated its charter … (and) FBU functionaries are well aware of the absurdity of the situation.“
The FBU stressed that there was nothing untoward about the vote.
“We ensured the direct presence at the conference of representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the International Boxing Association, which confirmed compliance with all necessary statutory procedures,” said Gurovitch.
But Gurovitch couldn’t help going on the offensive.
As The Federation Turns
In his statement, Gurovitch publicly called out Shevchenko.
“In fact, the situation here is very simple. A certain opposition group led by the President of the Kyiv City federation has decided to disrupt the FBU’s reporting and election conference, where they would probably not get the result they desired – namely sufficient support to elect Kirill Shevchenko as FBU President”, he said.
He then goes on to accuse “someone” of orchestrating the walk out.
“Someone advised our opponents to give up their right to participate in the conference. They did it – and now everyone is shouting into their microphones that someone has violated their right to participate in the presential election.”
To counter the FBU’s accusations, the dissenting group held its own press conference on December 22nd.
The event drew some star power.
In addition to the 11 regional federations, former world champions Serhiy Dzyndzyruk and Andriy Kotelnyk – who won silver for Ukraine at the 2000 Olympic Games – were there, as was former national team coach Dmitriy Sosnovsky.
The group leveled their own accusations against the FBU.
“I can cite as an example the Lviv federation, where the brother of Vladimir Prodivus is in charge and where not a single tournament has been held in three years - only state money is appropriated,“
said Kotelnyk.
“They also hold training camps for the national teams that stay in Vladimir's hotel and then walk for twenty minutes to the gym, although it is much cheaper to stay on the same [street].”
The dissident federations have demanded a new election. Should the December 17 election be allowed to stand, the group promised to appeal – first to the Ministry of Youth and Sport and later, if needed, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Young and the Noncommittal
The bad blood has been brewing for some time.
Last year, the FBU replaced several long-term coaches and took issue with the way No. 1-ranked super heavyweight Victor Vykhryst turned professional only months before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Kotelnyk is Vykhryst’s manager.
Vykhryst had just lost to Tsotne Rogavi and thought the newcomer would take his position in Tokyo. The FBU insisted it had invested in Vykhryst and would have selected him had he not turned professional.
So, they took away his apartment and stipend – which prompted a lawsuit from Kotelnyk. They also banned them both – and Vykhryst’s coach Oleksandr Lyakhov – for three years.
Kotelnyk insists the moves were politically motivated.
“Today the federation does not conduct a transparent selection of coaches,” he said at the December 22nd press conference. “They appoint trainers to the national team - people who have never been boxers and who have not achieved anything as trainers.”
Then, like a boxer before the bell, he left a parting shot.
“I read an interview with Vladimir about how cool well he is building Ukrainian boxing,” the former champion said, “Maybe he builds bridges well, but there are problems with boxing”.
He wasn’t speaking metaphorically – Providus is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Mostobud, known for building literal bridges.
Desperate Days – of Our Lives
The problems with boxing go deeper than the FBU.
Last month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) put AIBA – the sport’s international federation – on notice that it could be dropped from the 2028 Olympics due to match-fixing.
“AIBA must demonstrate that it has successfully addressed the ongoing concerns around its governance, financial transparency and sustainability and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes,” said IOC President Thomas Bach at the time.
Former AIBA President Wu Ching-kuo was found to have orchestrated widespread match-fixing at the 2012 Olympic Games – and quite likely at the 2008 Olympic Games as well.
The report said a “culture of favours” existed – especially among post-Soviet countries, although Ukraine was not implicated in any of pay-for-results schemes and only a single Ukrainian judge was involved in any of the manipulated matches. The Ukrainian judge has not been accused of anything illegal.
Wu Ching-kuo has been banned for life, but the election of his successor made waves in Ukraine.
Russia’s Umar Kremlev was eventually elected to take his place, securing 86 of 155 votes – including FBU President’s Prodivus’.
More than vote, Prodivus wrote AIBA a letter of support for his candidacy.
While this caused a stir in some circles in Ukraine, the FBU doubled down on the decision.
“Nobody has any idea what pressure is being put on our sport. No one knows the financial situation we were in, and no one knows who, how and why helped [us] to get out of it all”, said the head of the FBU press service Oleksandr Podvalenko.
“This kept boxing on the program of the Olympic Games.”
The question remains – can they do the same for boxing in Ukraine?
