IBF WAKES UP TO SELL BOXING IN INDIA !!!

With Indian boxers (men and women) delivering consistently at the world stage from Beijing Olympics onwards, and with the support base for the sport growing in the country, the Indian Boxing Federation (IBF) finally wakes up and decides to up a tender next week to attract a prospective marketing agent for the federation to make boxing more saleable in India and to overcome the struggle in getting sponsorship.

The IBF is confident of striking a deal after looking at player performace and dedication. Till now, about five big marketing houses - IMG, Percept, Leisure Sports Management, IOS, Wizcraft - have shown interest in the initial IBF proposal.

The end result will depend on whether the marketing house and IBF reach a consensus on the percentage of sponsorship money that will be shared between the two parties.

The idea of having a marketing agent occurred to the IBF after AIBA (International Boxing Association) roped in IMG (International management Group) this year for the ambitious one-of-a-kind tournament World Series Boxing (WSB) due to be held in November 2010. IMG, one of the world’s largest sports marketing company, holds a 25% stake in WSB SA, the company set up by AIBA to manage the WSB. The remaining 75% capital is provided by AIBA. Among all things, the IMG will be responsible for selling the exclusive rights, on behalf of AIBA, for the WSB.

‘‘We (IBF) don’t have the expertise to go around looking for sponsors and despite the support from sports ministry we’ve had regular trouble in raising money for tournaments in India as well while sending teams abroad. The agent will be responsible for getting us sponsors for national and international championships. We shall also be looking to them to garner sponsors for the kitting of the boxers,’’ PK Muralidharan Raja, secretary general, IBF.

‘‘Whoever decides to become our agent for the next four years will have an advantage over others when we launch the ISB (Indian Series Boxing), a tournament modeled on WSB, next year. It means when we prepare a separate tender for the first ISB the agent who becomes affiliated to us now will be the first to get the Right of Refusal,’’ Raja added.

In fact, the proposed ISB is the real reason behind marketing agents showing interest in forging a partnership with IBF.