The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board has recommended withdrawing recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA) following a meeting today.
The matter is to be discussed further, and a decision taken at an extraordinary IOC Session, due to be held remotely on June 22.
The IOC says it made the recommendation to the Session after discussing a report on the situation of the IBA, which concluded it had failed to fulfil conditions set by the IOC for lifting the suspension of the IBA’s recognition.
In response the IBA described the IOC Executive Board recommendation as “truly abhorrent and purely political”, and said it did not “reflect the reality of the situation where extraordinary progress on reforms and internationally recognised standards of good governance have been implemented.”
Boxing is set to keep its place on the Paris 2024 programme, with the IOC Executive Board also recommending to the Session, in the interests of boxing athletes and the sport, to maintain it on the schedule for next year’s Olympics.
Boxing has been left off the initial programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, with the IOC concluding in its report that the IBA would not be allowed to organise the LA 2028 boxing tournament if the sport was included.
In its report, the IOC said it had no other option than to suspend the IBA’s recognition because of the severity of the situation.
“Despite the various chances given to the IBA, including the roadmap 2021 to 2023, to address the various concerns with actual, effective evolution, the IBA was unable to provide the elements which would have allowed the lifting of its suspension,” the report said.
“Therefore, it is not possible to reach any conclusion other than to confirm the analysis made by the IOC Session in 2019, which was at no time contested by the IBA, on the necessity to withdraw the IOC’s recognition of the IBA.
“Effectively, the situation has become so serious that the only proportional conclusion is to withdraw the IOC’s recognition of the IBA pursuant to the Olympic Charter.”
Responding to the IOC Executive Board recommendation IBA President Umar Kremlev said: “We have made the International Boxing Association new, transparent, clean, and our successes were publicly acknowledged by international independent experts and there is only one organisation that has no interest in recognising our tremendous progress.
“For four years, the IBA has not received a single opportunity to present its achievements at an in-person meeting with the IOC, rather than only exchanging letters and emails instead.
“We accepted the process and the rules, but in the end, we were not assessed fairly.
“Now, we are left with no chance but to demand a fair assessment from a competent court.”
IBA secretary general and chief executive George Yerolimpos added: “The IBA should be commended for its repeated attempts to work with the IOC to find a solution in our fight to oversee Olympic boxing alongside our World Boxing Championships and other world-class IBA competitions and we will continue to explore options with the IOC in a spirit of open dialogue.”
The boxing programme during Paris 2024, as well as the qualification process for the sport for next year’s Games, will be run by the IOC, as was the case for Tokyo 2020.
The IOC imposed a suspension on the IBA, then known as AIBA, in 2019, due to concerns surrounding governance, finances, refereeing and ethics.
In response to concerns surrounding boxing’s future on the Olympic programme, a federation entitled World Boxing was launched with its priorities including keeping the sport “at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”
World Boxing welcomed the clarity following the IOC Executive Board’s recommendation to withdraw recognition of the IBA.
In a statement World Boxing said: “This is a very significant moment as it provides an opportunity for the sport to move on from the corrosive leadership of the IBA which has brought boxing to a place where its status as a part of the Olympic programme is in doubt.
“The loss of Olympic status would be devastating for boxing and have damaging long-term consequences, across the globe, for boxers and everyone connected to the sport, from elite level to the grassroots.
“World Boxing was established to prevent this catastrophic situation from arising and to create a better future and is committed to working constructively and collaboratively with the IOC and all other stakeholders to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic programme.
“Boxing is at a crossroads and we urge every National Federation that cares about boxers and boxing to think about how they can help to deliver a better future for the sport and support World Boxing in its efforts to keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”
USA Boxing and SwissBoxing have both quit the IBA to join World Boxing, while the Dutch Boxing Federation and Boxing New Zealand have indicated they are likely to follow.
The IBA has described World Boxing as a “rogue organisation” and suspended the National Federations of New Zealand, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands over their connections to the body.
