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Boxing inches closer to Olympic return
The current IOC Executive Board. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
The IOC executive board, which meets in Costa Navarino, Greece, March 19-21, will have to vote on the proposal to restore boxing to the LA2028 programme.
Caught in the lingering dispute between the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the future of boxing at the Olympic Games looked bleak. But the coast seems clear now after the IOC executive board proposed that boxing be included at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Boxing was not the LA28 programme when it was announced in 2022, but after World Boxing (WB) was given provisional recognition as the new boxing international governing body last month, the future is getting brighter.
The IOC executive board, which meets in Costa Navarino, Greece, March 19-21, will have to vote on the proposal to restore boxing to the LA2028 programme.
"After the provisional recognition of World Boxing in February we were in a position to take this decision," outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach said on Monday.
"This recommendation has to go to the session, but I am very confident they will approve it so that all the boxers of the world then have certainty they can participate in the Olympic Games in LA."
The IOC managed boxing at the past two Olympics after suspending the IBA in 2019 and eventually expelling it in June 2023 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.
But the IOC announced it needed a new credible governing body to manage Olympic boxing or else the traditional sport would be off the LA28 fixture.
That headache eased in February when WB, formed in April 2023, hit the mandatory 75-membership mark for an Olympic sport.
“This is a very significant and important decision for Olympic boxing and takes the sport one step closer to being restored to the Olympic programme,” WB president Boris van der Vorst, said of the imminent Olympic inclusion. “I have no doubt it will be very positively received by everyone connected with boxing, at every level throughout the world, who understands the critical importance to the future of the sport of boxing continuing to remain a part of the Olympic Movement.
“On behalf of everyone at World Boxing I would like to thank the EB of the IOC for the trust they have placed in our organisation and we hope for a positive outcome when the IOC Session meets this week.
“World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right and I assure the IOC that if boxing is restored to the programme for LA28, that World Boxing is completely committed to being a trustworthy and reliable partner that will adhere to and uphold the values of the Olympic Charter.”
The IOC said only athletes whose national federations were members of WB by the start of the qualification events for the 2028 Olympics could take part in Los Angeles. The dates are yet to be confirmed.
The new body now boasts 84 members, seven of them African. Uganda’s position is not yet known.
IOC vs IBA SERIES
2016: IOC forces IBA to suspend Rio 2016 ring officials
2019: IOC suspends IBA over finances and ethics
June 2022: IOC announces IBA won’t manage the Paris 2024 boxing pathway
April 2023: USA and co. create World Boxing
June 2023: IOC expels IBA from Olympic Movement
December 2023: IBA bans dual membership of federations
April 2024: CAS dismisses IBA appeal against IOC dismissal
May 2024: IOC meets World Boxing
September 2024: Swiss federal court rejects IBA’s appeal vs CAS
December 2024: IBA amends constitution to allow dual membership
January 2025: IBA asks Trump to intervene
February 2025: IBA threatens legal action vs IOC for transgender box
February 2025: World Boxing hits 75-member mark
March 17, 2025: IOC executive board proposes boxing at LA28
