Olympic gold medallists Lauren Price and Galal Yafai back Matt Holt for re-election as a Vice President of World Boxing

TOKYO 2020 Olympic gold medallists, Lauren Price MBE and Galal Yafai MBE, have backed GB Boxing’s Chief Executive, Matt Holt, for re-election as a Vice President of World Boxing.

The pair, who are now enjoying successful careers in the professional ranks, have both known Holt for over a decade and were trained and coached by GB Boxing on route to their gold medal victories at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Holt is standing for re-election as a Vice President at the forthcoming World Boxing Congress in Panama City on 20 November 2026.

Speaking ahead of the elections, Galal Yafai MBE said: “Matt has a superb track record with GB Boxing and has consistently shown that he is a good leader that knows what it takes to run a successful boxing organisation. 

“In my experience, he always puts the interest of the boxers first. This is one of the reasons why GB Boxing has enjoyed so much success under his leadership and why I think he can continue to play an important role in the future development of World Boxing by ensuring that when it comes to making decisions, it always prioritises the interests of boxers.”

Lauren Price MBE added: “As one of the people that co-founded World Boxing, during a very difficult period for international boxing, Matt has demonstrated strong and principled leadership and shown that he cares about the future of the sport and is prepared to do what it takes to deliver a better future for boxing.

“He has played a big role in helping World Boxing get where it is today and has good relationships within boxing and the Olympic Movement which are going to be really important over the next few years in helping World Boxing to achieve full IOC recognition and deliver a great tournament at LA28.”

Holt is one of three Vice Presidents on World Boxing’s Executive Board having been elected at its inaugural Congress in November 2023 for a three-year term. At the elections in Panama, he will be one of seven candidates contesting two Vice President roles (one of which must go to a female candidate) and one of nine candidates for two positions on the Executive Board.

As part of his campaign, Holt recently set out his five key priorities for World Boxing:

1. Boxers First: Ensuring the interests of athletes are at the heart of decision making and that we always put the interests of boxers first
2. Securing full Olympic recognition: Making sure that World Boxing enjoys positive relationships with all stakeholders and is an active and valued member of the Olympic Movement
3. Sporting integrity: Ensuring fairness and exploring new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), that will bring more objectivity to scoring and deliver greater sporting integrity 
4. Transparency and strong governance: Maintaining World Boxing’s commitment to the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence and upholding the highest standards of governance and transparency
5. Global development: Support for the creation of grassroots programmes to develop the sport globally and a competition calendar that embraces all continents

Having joined GB Boxing in 2009, Holt has been Chief Executive since 2013 and overseen a period of unprecedented success in which boxers from Great Britain won more than 100 medals at major international championships.

He was one of the co-founders of World Boxing which was established in 2022 as an alternative to the previous IF that had been suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and seen the removal of boxing from the programme for LA28.

Following the public launch of World Boxing in April 2023, Holt served on the interim Executive Board and was subsequently elected as a Vice President in November 2023. He was instrumental in bringing the first ever World Boxing Championships to Liverpool in September 2025 and part of the Local Organising Committee that oversaw the successful delivery of the tournament.

The elections will take place at World Boxing’s fourth annual Congress on 20 November 2026 when 123 National Federations will be eligible to vote (on a one member one vote basis).