The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provisionally recognised World Boxing as the International Federation within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at the world level. This recognition has led to expectations that boxing may be restored to the Olympic programme.
In 2019, the IOC suspended the International Boxing Association (IBA), led by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev, due to issues related to governance, finance, refereeing and ethics. As a result, the IBA was not involved in organising boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and was stripped of its recognition in 2023, an extremely rare move by the IOC.
Additionally, the IBA recently announced plans to take legal action against the IOC over the inclusion of Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting at last year's Olympic Games. The two female boxers had been excluded from the IBA's 2023 world championships after the fighters failed gender eligibility tests, but the IOC cleared them to fight, and both went on to win gold medals in Paris. The IOC stated that the IBA’s tests were biased, and that Khelif was “born a woman.”
As a result of these developments, the relationship between the IBA and IOC is extremely frayed currently. The boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics was managed by the IOC itself. While boxing has not yet been included in the LA 2028 programme, the IOC's recent provisional recognition of World Boxing has raised hopes that boxing will continue to be part of future Olympic Games.
In a statement, the IOC said World Boxing has been granted this title because it has met the following criteria:
- 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 President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “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…
It has taken a huge team effort from a large number of people across the globe to get to this point and none of it would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of all of the National Federations, boxers, coaches, officials and boxing leaders that have worked together to make this possible…
Today’s decision by the IOC is an important milestone, however everyone connected with World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Movement is a privilege and a responsibility and not a right. There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone is as committed as ever to continuing to work together and doing everything within our power to deliver a better future for our sport and ensuring that boxing remains at heart of the Olympic Movement.”
GB Boxing was one of the first organisations to join World Boxing and the National Governing Bodies for boxing in England, Scotland and Wales are all members.
Following the announcement by the IOC, the Performance Director of GB Boxing, Rob McCracken said: “This is very good news for all of the boxers in our squad and a really significant step forward for Olympic boxing as a whole. We have always tried to have a positive outlook on things at GB Boxing because we can see that World Boxing is doing a good job, so it is great that the IOC has acknowledged this by provisionally recognising it as the International Federation for the sport…
This will be a really big boost for the boxers in our squad and everyone connected with our World Class Programme (WCP) and indicates that things are travelling in the right direction in terms of boxing remaining in the Olympic Games.”
GB Boxing’s Chief Executive, Matt Holt, who was elected as a Vice President of World Boxing, at its inaugural Congress in November 2023, added: “This a very positive step forward, not just for GB Boxing and the men and women in our squad, but for boxers at every level of the sport in every part of the world. The Olympic Games provides inspiration to young boxers everywhere, from the grassroots to the elite level…
World Boxing has done a very good job of stepping up to take on the mantle of being the International Federation for the sport and the IOC’s decision to provisionally recognise it is great news and hopefully another step on the path to seeing that boxing is restored to the Olympic programme.”
GB Boxing has also highlighted that the announcement was also welcomed by Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Lauren Price, who is also a World Boxing Athlete Representative, as well as Cindy Ngamba, who became the first refugee athlete in history to win an Olympic medal when she earned bronze at Paris 2024.
Price expressed: “World Boxing has consistently fought to ensure that boxers can continue to have the chance to compete on the highest stage in sport at the Olympic Games and it is very positive to hear that the IOC has decided to provisionally recognise World Boxing…
Hopefully this will be the first step toward seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme which will be a massive boost for the sport and the hopes and dreams of male and female boxers at all levels across the world.”
Ngamba voiced: “The thought of being able to compete at the Olympics was one of the things that kept me going in difficult times and inspired me to pursue a career in boxing. It would be hugely damaging to the careers of male and female boxers across the world if this opportunity did not exist for them, so the decision by the IOC to provisionally recognise World Boxing is really good news for the sport as it keeps the Olympic dream alive.”
Gennadiy Golovkin, who won a silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, said: “I am pleased that through the continuous efforts of all the people who support World Boxing, we have managed to achieve this result. Establishing an international federation built on the principles of integrity and fairness is our shared mission for the future generation of athletes and future champions. There is still a lot to do to achieve all the goals set, so we will not stop here.”
The official IOC statement can be found here: IOC grants provisional recognition to World Boxing
The official World Boxing statement can be found here: WORLD BOXING RESPONDS TO THE DECISION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE IOC TO GRANT PROVISIONAL OLYMPIC RECOGNITION - World Boxing
The official GB Boxing statement can be found here: GB Boxing welcomes IOC decision to grant provisional Olympic recognition to World Boxing | GB Boxing
