By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) – A group of national federations including the United States and Britain announced a new boxing world body on Thursday in a breakaway move aimed at securing the troubled sport’s Olympic future.
Leaders of the Swiss-registered body, World Boxing, told a news conference that they would seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The group includes federations who have already announced boycotts of this year’s men’s and women’s world championships organised by the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA).
The interim executive board will be overseen by Simon Toulson, a Briton who previously led the International Canoe Federation and worked in the IOC’s sports department and with national Olympic committees.
There are representatives from Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sweden and the United States.
Boris van der Vorst, the president of the Dutch boxing federation who was prevented from taking part in the IBA presidential election in May last year, joined some of the other board members on a Zoom news conference.
Tokyo 2020 middleweight gold medallist Lauren Price of Wales and U.S. super-heavyweight silver medallist Richard Torrez Jr. will serve as athlete representatives on the interim executive board.
Boxing’s place in the Olympics after next year’s Paris Games remains uncertain, with the sport not on the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028, pending reforms demanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IBA was suspended by the IOC in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues. The body was stripped of involvement in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the qualifiers for Paris 2024.
Relations between the IOC and the IBA further soured following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Amateur boxing’s governing body defied IOC guidance and lifted a ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers competing under their flags last October.
Boxing has been a part of every Olympics since 1904, with the exception of Stockholm 1912 because the sport was banned in Sweden at the time. Women’s boxing was added to the programme in 2012.
The United States tops the all-time Olympic boxing medal table with 50 golds and 117 medals, ahead of Cuba and with Britain third.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Alison Williams and Toby Davis)
