Olympic Boxing: IOC recommends withdrawing recognition for International Boxing Association
- Planet Sport writer
- 7 June 2023
The IBA has hailed IOC's recommendation as 'truly abhorrent and purely political'.
Boxing's place at the 2028 Olympics has been placed in further jeopardy after the International Olympic Committee's executive board recommended recognition for the sport's international federation be withdrawn.
An extraordinary IOC session has been called for June 22 to decide on whether to withdraw the International Boxing Association's recognition.
Boxing has been left off the initial programme for the Los Angeles Games in five years' time after the IBA failed to implement changes requested by the IOC.
The IBA was first suspended by the IOC in 2019 and boxing will not run under the IBA's authority at the Paris Olympics next year due to long-standing issues over the federation's governance, financial stability, sustainability, refereeing and judging system.
A statement from the IBA issued on Wednesday evening said: "The International Boxing Association considers the IOC Executive Board recommendation to withdraw IBA's recognition truly abhorrent and purely political, as all the efforts undertaken by the IBA, with its democratically elected leadership constituting the international of boxing during last two years were largely ignored and not taken into consideration by the International Olympic Committee.
"The recommendation of the IOC EB does not reflect the reality of the situation where extraordinary progress on reforms and internationally recognized standards of good governance have been implemented under the guidance and supervision of Professor Dr Ulrich Haas' Governance Reform Group and backed up by comprehensive investigation of the past conducted by Professor Richard McLaren's team.
"These positive steps for the organization have been commended by boxers and stakeholders at the heart of the sport around the globe.
"The IBA as the home of boxing reserves its right to take retaliatory measures, as the organization in its current state will never acknowledge the assertion that IBA is not compliant with the standards of good governance or that IBA does not deserve its place at the Olympic movement.
"In addition, IBA strongly denies all allegations that it has put the reputation of the Olympic movement in jeopardy but has rather respected the IOC's recommendations and followed them."
A new body, World Boxing, was set up earlier this year in a bid to gain IOC recognition and to help boxing keep its place on the Olympic programme in the future.
GB Boxing announced on Tuesday it was applying for associate membership of World Boxing.
GB Boxing's decision follows recent announcements by USA Boxing and the Swiss Boxing Federation to leave IBA and apply for membership of World Boxing.
