Olympics-Boxing-Federations must join World Boxing to include sport at LA Games, president says

By Aadi Nair

PARIS (Reuters) – Joining World Boxing is the only action national boxing federations can take to ensure the sport is included on the programme for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, the body’s president Boris van der Vorst said on Saturday.

The boxing competition at the Paris Olympics, which concluded on Saturday, was run by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC stripped the International Boxing Association of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.

It has not included the sport on the LA 2028 programme yet and has urged national boxing federations to appoint a new global boxing body or risk missing out on the Olympics in four years.

International federations are responsible for organising world championships for their sports, as well as Olympic tournaments.

IOC president Thomas Bach said on Friday that a decision on boxing’s inclusion at the Los Angeles Olympics has to be made in 2025.

“The IOC has made it abundantly clear that the only way that boxing will be restored to the programme for Los Angeles 2028 is if it has a trusted and reliable international federation (IF) to work with that has support of the national federations (NF),” van der Vorst said in a statement.

“World Boxing is that IF. And we are committed to creating a sustainable and inclusive sporting structure – underpinned by strong governance and transparent financial management – where all boxers can compete and excel knowing that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair.”

World Boxing, launched in 2023, has 37 members, far fewer than the IBA, and is not recognised by the IOC.

Van der Vorst said he was confident that World Boxing would soon have up to 50 members.

“We cannot allow boxing to exit the Olympic stage, and I invite every NF that cares about their boxers and the future of the sport to take immediate steps to join World Boxing now and work with us to deliver a better future for the sport.”

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Rod Nickel)