“According to international regulations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) no longer has the authority to manage and organize the boxing subject at the Olympic Games 2028. Therefore, so that this sport will continue to appear at the Olympics, IOC needs a legitimate, internationally recognized and reliable unit to organize,” IOC announced.
The statement made by the IOC in the context of the International Boxing Association (IBA) was completely deprived of the Olympic level management rights. On April 2, the International Sports Court also rejected IBA's appeal, thereby completely eliminating the organization from the Olympic program.
Earlier, at the upcoming Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games, IOC had deprived IBA's rights. To replace IBA in professional work, IOC has established a special agency to help operate the temporary boxing subject. They also set up a new Boxing management agency, World Boxing.
Despite being founded in the past 1 year, the World Boxing has not been recognized by most countries, especially in Asia. In an extraordinary meeting at the end of 2023 of the Asian Boxing Federation (ASBC), 90% of member states agreed to continue to stick with IBA, instead of separating and moving to World Boxing.
For that reason, IOC's notice to the Boxing Federation, as well as the National Olympic Committee, is considered an important statement to determine the survival of Boxing at the Olympics. If countries do not receive the World Boxing, IOC can completely remove the boxing from the Olympic Games 2028 and the Olympics later.
“IOC needs a partner at an international level to manage Boxing, until the beginning of 2025. Currently, Boxing has not been included in the 2028 Olympic competition program. The future of Boxing at the Olympics depends on the choice of the National Boxing Federation, as well as the Olympic Committee of member countries,” IOC emphasized.