For those of you who have been a member of BMABA for some time will know, BMABA stands for British Martial Arts & Boxing Association. Given the title, it's reasonable to think we would be able to insure and recognise Traditional Boxing as part of our remit. Strangely, that's not the case.
Due to a strange 'kink' in the way insurance works, we're not able to offer instructor or student cover for 'Amatuer' or 'Traditional' boxing. We are, however, able to cover 'Martial Arts Based Boxing'.
This throws out the obvious question, what's the difference? We grilled the insurers on this nuance and the best we can ascertain is as follows;
Martial Arts Based Boxing is the practice of stand up fighting commonly referred to as boxing, as part of a broader fitness or martial arts regime. Classes can be primarily or entirely focused on stand up striking and blocking, which would be considered visually and technically to be almost the same as Amateur Boxing. The contrast is that the same rules used to govern rounds and bouts in Amatuer Boxing should not be applied, and Martial Arts Based Boxing should be used part of a wider training regime.
We appreciate the frustration this strange condition can cause to clubs that cross between the two. It should largely allow those who practice crossovers to continue doing so, but it does mean we can't represent solo-Boxing clubs. This would need to be insured separately.