Amateur boxing in the US has been suspended for three months after USA Boxing failed to remove the former president from its board despite hugely controversial comments he made about homosexuality and child abuse earlier this year.
Adonis, president of the organisation since 2009, told the New Yorker magazine in May that, in his experience of female boxing, "half of our girls have been molested; half of our girls are gay", and that physical abuse in childhood was a good grounding for a career in boxing.
He was quoted as saying: "When kids call me up, I say: 'Let me ask you an honest question: have your parents ever hit you?' If they say no, I say: 'I don't think you belong in boxing.'
"My father invented child abuse... I learned how to play chess when I was six years old. My father would have a strap and smack me across the face if I made the wrong move. So when I got on to the streets and got into boxing, I was so used to getting hit it was like, hey, this is nothing!"
When he trained young boxers, he said, "before a fight I'd start smacking them real hard in the face. Because you feel, in boxing, the first couple punches. After that, the endorphins kick in and it's like someone gave you Novocain."
And pointing out a female boxer to the New Yorker's interviewer, he said: "Let me tell you a story about her: she was raped by a member of her family when she was a little girl! Half of our girls have been molested; half of our girls are gay."
In response to the article, the International Amateur Boxing Association directed USA Boxing to remove Adonis as president, calling the comments "defamatory to the reputation of AIBA, the sport of boxing, women's boxing in particular, certain minority groups, and inappropriately associating child abuse with the sport of boxing."
However, a vote by USA Boxing members allowed Adonis to remain on the board, prompting the AIBA to take action against the organisation as a whole.
The AIBA Disciplinary Commission decision stated: "By failing to remove Mr Adonis from the USA Boxing board of directors when it had the chance to do so, USA Boxing, in essence, endorsed Mr Adonis's statements and sent out a message that such behaviour was acceptable.
"The action (or lack thereof) and the very serious and harmful nature of Mr Adonis's statements has jeopardised boxing and the panel finds it appropriate to impose a suspension upon USA Boxing. This suspension must reflect the severity of the offence."
AIBA later said in a statement: "The International Boxing Association respects the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and shall take the necessary steps to assist, improve and develop the sport in the USA and protect the interest of its boxers."
USA Boxing told its members that it would "try to shorten" the three-month suspension. Adonis has been fined and suspended from all boxing activities for two years.
Emmanuel Steward
