IABA President Pat Ryan signed his organisation up to the HeadsUp programme ©AIBA

The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) have become the latest organisation to join the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) HeadsUp! programme.

Pat Ryan, IABA President, signed the HeadsUp! charter on a visit to the AIBA Headquarters in Lausanne, where he was accompanied by the the governing body's chief executive Fergal Carruth.

The campaign, launched at last October’s World Boxing Championships in Doha, focuses on training boxers to maintain a heads-up stance to help prevent concussions and cuts, based upon the four pillars of health, education, sport and sustainability.

It followed AIBA’s Executive Committee decision in 2012 to unanimously to end the use of headguards in all of their elite men's competitions, on the back of its Medical Commission’s study of 11,000 AIBA bouts around the world.

As part of the HeadsUp! programme, coaches are being trained to help educate boxers to into bouts not with the correct stance and with the right mind-set, which is claimed will ultimately change the behaviour of boxers leading with the head that came with the psychological protection of guards.

“As IABA President I’m very satisfied to be able to bring our support to the AIBA HeadsUp! Programme,” Ryan said.

“We are already active in social activities and grassroots promotion of our sport with projects like 'The Start Box Initiative', a partnership between the IABA and Dublin City Council representing an ideal way to first engage with boxing through the communities of Dublin.

“Around 2,500 young people engage in StartBox each year and this is the very essence of HeadsUp, it’s a natural fit.”

Michael Conlon is one of the Irish boxers who have already booked places at Rio 2016
Michael Conlon is one of the Irish boxers who have already booked places at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

Boxing is Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport .

A total of 16 of their 28 Olympic medals have come in the sport.

It is likely their boxers heading to Rio 2016 will not use headguards, with the AIBA set to scrap them for the Olympics. 

The potential move follows on from the 2013 World Championships in Almaty, the first not to feature headguards in three decades, where it was claimed that there was a decrease in the number of concussions compared to the 2011 competition in Baku.

Following the IABA signing the charter, AIBA President C K Wu praised the Federation’s hard work over recent years to continue their nation’s success on the international stage.

 “The IABA operates in one of the world’s leading boxing nations and grassroots promotion of our sport is a crucial part of its success,” he said. 

“We hope that the HeadsUp programme will help develop even more boxing in Ireland and entice the young population to put on the gloves even more.”