Former four-division world champion Roy Jones Jr. has spoken out about the U.S. team's withdrawal from the World Championships in Tashkent over the admission of Russians.
I was bitterly disappointed to hear about the boycott of the IBA World Boxing Championships by the American team. They make trivial statements on their official website that have nothing to do with reality! Today, on behalf of myself, I want to assure the athletes, coaches and all boxing fans in the United States that this decision was made only by the officials and not by the boxers.
Roy Jones Jr. on his social media
The boxer also added that U.S. officials in charge of the sport are too dependent on the country's politics, so they can't realistically assess the current situation.
Earlier, the U.S. boxing federation refused to participate in the world championship, which will be held from May 1 to 14 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The reason for the refusal was the decision of the International Boxing Association (IBA) to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete and use their national symbols.