Leroy Brown - File

Spurred by a desire to return the Americas to the pinnacle of world boxing, the American Boxing Confederation (ABC) has launched a series of initiatives that it expects to bear fruit.

At a meeting of the executive of the ABC last weekend at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Hotel, the executive took a decision to stage an elite continental championship for women later this year. Plans have also been put in place for a youth competition later this year.

According to Leroy Brown, general secretary of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC), members of the executive expressed concern that Europe had surpassed the Americas as tops in the sport worldwide and have initiated plans to regain the region's former dominance.

Members of the executive, which includes representatives from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela, fear that boxing is losing youngsters to other sports, most notably American football in the United States and hockey in Canada.

They reached a consensus that creative methods needed to be found to win back the interest of young people in the Americas.

"The idea is to make your sport attractive to the young people so that they want to get involved," Brown said.

Another possible reason for the waning interest in the sport regionally is the absence of consistent quality competition. It is against that background that the executive decided to launch the elite women's championships in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, between April 3 and 8 this year. Cornwall is an hour's drive from Montreal.

"This was designed to provide competition for the women in the region, and it will be in all the female weight classes, even though women will be fighting in only three weight classes in the Olympics," Brown said. The championship will also give female boxers a chance to show their skills and hopefully earn selection to national teams for the World Championships to be held in Qinhuangdao, China, between May 21 and June 3 this year.

"They made the point that it is expensive to send boxers to China, so you want to make sure you send the best-quality fighters. This will be an idea to gauge the worth of your boxers," Brown said.

Plans are also in place to have a youth competition, Brown said, but details are still being finalised.