Meet Tyson Lee: An Army veteran running for Vice President of World Boxing

by Luke Santangelo, USA Boxing

USA Boxing Board of Directors President Tyson Lee has been around the sport of boxing since his childhood. He grew up boxing with his friends in his neighborhood; however, it was not until he attended the United States Military Academy West Point that he began competing in the sport. During his time at West Point, he only suffered one loss in four years. His boxing career would continue during his Army deployments, competing in open boxing tournaments where he was stationed and eventually winning three state titles in Hawaii in the 25th Infantry Division.


Following the Army, Lee went on to start his successful professional career in pharmaceutical and insurance sales, before building his own industrial contracting business in Alabama.


Lee returned to the sport of boxing when he was elected President of the USA Boxing Board of Directors in 2019 and was re-elected in 2020. In this role, Lee has been a critical supporter of good governance, transparency and problem solving for USA Boxing’s national office.  


“It’s important to have support from a large, experienced organization, like USA Boxing, to guide this new international federation forward because it will have so many requirements and needs out the gate,” Lee stated on what he learned from his time as USA Boxing Board President. “As USA Boxing President, I know that it will take strong leadership to accomplish the goals that we have set for World Boxing during these challenging times.  However, with strong leadership and support, we can accomplish all our goals and keep boxing in the Olympic family.”


Lee, who is running for one of the three available Vice President positions on World Boxing’s Board of Directors, brings international experience to World Boxing, as he has also served as Vice President of the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC).  Lee feels his impressive resume and experience sets him up for success if elected Vice President of World Boxing. He plans to maintain an environment of fairness on the field of play, good governance, financial transparency and a third-party oversight.  He has international connections and tremendous support from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USA Boxing Staff.


Lee believes his experience in leadership, business and team building skills are vital to the solution to save Olympic-style boxing and give the sport the spark it needs. Part of his vision is to improve relationships with national federations (NFs) and their National Olympic Committees (NOCs), as well as gain confidence in World Boxing’s direction from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and global boxing community. He wants to ensure that World Boxing will accomplish what is necessary to gain the IOC’s confidence to keep boxing in the Olympic family.


“I can use my years of institutional knowledge and commitment to maintain what we initially desired for our sport,” stated Lee on why running Vice President is important to him. “I can support a new president in the World Boxing organization by bringing many of the United States’ resources to the table such as sponsorships, other financial support, and also the domestic and international experience of our staff and officials in maintaining and growing boxing programs.”


This commitment includes introducing a clear vision to guarantee transparency, fairness of play and good governance, and he believes his leadership from the past lines him up for complete success if voted into the position of Vice President.


World Boxing will host its inaugural Congress at the Mainacarden Venue in Frankfurt am Main, Germany Nov. 24-25. This election will be the first election where members will vote for positions such as, President, Vice President (VP) of World Boxing’s Executive Board.