The International Olympic Committee, after months of not so veiled support to World Boxing, in what could be termed its outgoing chief Thomas Bach’s last “executive order”, has announced that it will “provisionally recognise” the Western powers-backed body, leaving the International Boxing Association in limbo.
The announcement was made Wednesday during a remote meeting of IOC’s executive board, thus formally cutting out the IBA, which the IOC had stripped of official recognition in April 2023.
Justifying its decision to hand over boxing’s governance throne to WB, which the Bach-led world Olympic body has supported from the get-go, the IOC declared:
With regard to the sports criteria:
*is composed of 78 National Federations from the five continents; and four continental confederations are already established;
*has provided evidence that 62 per cent of the boxers and 58 per cent of the boxing medallists at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are affiliated to National Federations that are members of World Boxing;
*applies the sports integrity process implemented during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 by the Paris Boxing Unit, including with independent oversight; and
has obtained AIMS membership, as approved by the SportAccord executive committee and the AIMS general assembly;
With regard to the governance criteria:
*has put in place the structure and documentation for good governance (including the World Boxing Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest Policy and declaration form, Anti-Corruption Policy, and Finance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference), and has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation, to be compliant with the appropriate standards;
*has provided assurance with regard to its revenue-generating process on the basis of multi-year commercial partnership agreements covering the period 2025-2028;
*has recognised CAS jurisdiction; and
has successfully applied for World Anti-Doping Code Signatory Status, which has been accepted by WADA, and the World Boxing contract with the ITA is fully implemented.
The assessment concluded that World Boxing “has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition as the IF within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level”.
BFI’s decision to align with WB pays off
Meanwhile, back home, the developments come as a significant shot in the arm for the beleaguered Ajay Singh-led Boxing Federation of India, which nine months ago took the strategic decision to align with WB.
It bears noting that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had on Monday formed an ad-hoc committee to oversee the BFI due to what it termed as the ongoing “administrative instability” in the federation.
Singh, who has spent two terms at the BFI helm, has asserted that IOA’s decision “lacks any valid authority in law and is in clear violation of due process”. BFI also said that it will move the Delhi High Court seeking immediate quashing of the IOA order.
WB, in a separate statement, celebrated the IOC decision. “This is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic Movement. Keeping its place at the Olympic Games is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and this decision by the IOC takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme,” WB president Boris van der Vorst said.
As for the IBA, as Inside The Games noted, the IBA’s own path seems now more in doubt than ever as the association that has backed prize money initiatives, among others, is still very much in touch with the amateur boxing world but struggles to climb back in the Olympic ring after being left out in Paris 2024 and, now apparently, overtaken by WB with LA28 on the horizon.
IBA president Umar Kremlev, who has challenged the sanctions in court and questioned the WB’s financial muscle, was hoping that March’s IOC presidential elections would open a new door for reinstatement, but at the moment has an uphill battle on his hands to “get back in from the cold”.
