LAUSANNE (DA) — The Curaçao Boxing Association has been endorsed as a new member of World Boxing, giving Curaçao a place in the international federation’s growing membership structure.
World Boxing announced Wednesday that its Executive Board endorsed seven new membership applications from national boxing federations in Antigua and Barbuda, Cameroon, Curaçao, Gabon, Grenada, South Africa and Vanuatu.
The endorsements take World Boxing to 175 member national federations, made up of 123 full members, one associate member and 51 endorsed members.
Curaçao’s federation enters with endorsed member status. Under World Boxing statutes, endorsed members are able to compete in World Boxing competitions but cannot vote at Congress 2026 because they do not yet have full member status.
Full member status can only be granted by Congress, the ultimate authority of World Boxing. The next World Boxing Congress is scheduled for Nov. 20, 2026, in Panama, where endorsed members can have their applications ratified.
Endorsed members that become full members at that Congress will be able to vote at the 2027 Congress and at future congresses.
World Boxing said the seven federations completed a rigorous application process and were deemed to be in good standing. The process required federations to demonstrate transparent and open election procedures, WADA-recognized anti-doping policies and processes, and a structured dispute resolution and appeals process that is fully independent or subject to external input.
The other new national federations are the Antigua and Barbuda Boxing Association, Cameroon Boxing Federation, La Fédération Gabonaise de Boxe, Boxing Association of Grenada Inc., South African National Boxing Organisation and Vanuatu Boxing Federation.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and received provisional IOC recognition on Feb. 25, 2025, as the international federation within the Olympic Movement governing boxing at world level.