San Francisco Frontiers - IOC provisionally recognises World Boxing as federation for Olympics

The IOC severed links with the International Boxing Association (IBA), the long-standing ruling body of amateur boxing, over financial, governance and ethical concerns and took over the organisation of the sport at last year's Paris Olympics.

The IBA is chaired by the Kremlin-linked Russian Umar Kremlev.

World Boxing was founded in 2023 and boasts 78 members led by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and Brazil.

IOC president Thomas Bach had warned that boxing's national federations needed to find a new and "reliable" international partner if it wanted to ensure that the sport features on the programme at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The IOC in a statement recognising World Boxing as the sport's amateur federation said the body "has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation, to be compliant with the appropriate standards".

World Boxing hailed the IOC's decision as "an important milestone".

"This is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic Movement," the body's president Boris van der Vorst said.

"Keeping its place at the Olympic Games is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level."

He added that the IOC's provisional acceptance "takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme".

Kazakhstan’s former two-time unified world middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin heads World Boxing's Olympic Commission and in that role has been liaising closely with the IOC.

"Receiving provisional Olympic recognition from the IOC is an important achievement and demonstrates that our sport is on the right path," said Golovkin, the silver medallist from the 2004 Athens Games.

G.Miller--SFF