Q & A on England Boxing Title Belts

David Thorley, England Boxing Head of Talent & Competitions, has been delighted with the reception given to the new England Boxing National Title Belts format.

They were launched last Friday (25^th January), along with a confirmed first set of bouts to get things started in the next few weeks.

“The launch of the England Boxing National Title Belts has been well received across the country, with some exciting bouts confirmed (featuring the likes of England Talent’s Laura Stevens, Ramtin Musah, Harvey Lambert and Elena Narozanski, pictured) to get the competition under way in February,” he said.

“The structure is very different to what was in place previously and it is vital that the membership are comfortable with the new system, so we have produced a Q & A below to help answer some outstanding questions.

“We will be taking feedback on a regular basis to ensure that this competition is serving the membership well and always has the boxers at the centre of all discussions and plans.”

What National Title Belt bouts are confirmed?

A list of box-offs for the National Title Belts was released on 25 January and is detailed here. There has been a lot of activity as a result and many bouts are now in place. If a club would like to take the proposed bout, please can you contact the opponent mentioned to accept the bout (or not).

Once agreed, please contact the Title Belt Panel for sanctioning via Titlebelts@www.englandboxing.org.

Bouts that have not been confirmed by 5pm on 14 February will be classified as a refusal and the bout will be offered to the next boxer in line.

Why did the system behind the Title Belts change?

England Boxing took on feedback from the membership regarding the previous versions of this competition and took action to introduce a new competition that would offer regular meaningful bouts within a system that is fully transparent.

The new system has been created that links Regional Belts in to Area Belts and, in turn, National Belts so a full pathway of how to compete for each belt is clear.

The box-offs have been named to ensure the competition gets off to a high-profile start and National Title Belt holders are in place where possible. The Regional Belts system will then feed into the Area Belts and leads to an exciting 2019 as the system begins to fill with belt holders.

Pictured below, theTitle Belt is red with white trim. Each belt will be engraved with the category and weight.

What are the Area Belts?

There are three England Boxing Area Title Belts – Northern, Central and Southern.

Northern is for boxers from Merseyside & Cheshire, North West, Yorkshire and Tyne Tees and Wear, Central for boxers from Midland Counties, East Midlands and Eastern Counties and Home Countiers and Southern for boxers from (Western Counties, Southern Counties, London and UKAF).

These three Area Title Belt holders are the only boxers who may compete for the National Title Belt. The National Title Belt holder must offer defences to the bouts in a certain order of Northern, Central then Southern.

So the first defence must be against the Northern Area Title Belt holder, the next against the Central Area Title Belt holder and so on. If the Northern Area Title Belt holder beats the National Title Belt holder, the first defence should be against the Central Area Title Belt holder to continue the pattern.

Full details on the Area Belts and named box-offs will be released shortly.

Pictured below, the Area Belt is white with red trim. Each belt will be engraved with the category and weight, plus area name.

How do the Regional Belts work?

While England Boxing will manage the National and Area Belts, each respective region will manage its own Regional Belt.

Each region has been approved to run its own Regional Title Belt system that will feed into the Area Belts. Some regions already run a Regional Belt system and some will be creating from scratch.

Where no belt system is in place, a region may nominate a boxer as the Regional Belt holder in name only as a challenger to the Area Belt. Results from regional championships should be taken into account for this.

The design of the Regional Belts will be individual to that particular region.

When are the youth belts launched?

The England Boxing Youth Title Belts will be launched following the England Boxing National Youth Championships in February.

The results from this competition will be used by the Title Belts Panel to nominate the initial box-offs.

Who do I contact if I have any issues or questions?

Please only contact Titlebelts@www.englandboxing.org