General information IOC Executive Board recommendation for boxing

The IOC Executive Board is paving the way for boxing to be included in the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The recommendation to the Session has been made.

Keystone-SDA

17.03.2025, 14:00

17.03.2025, 14:10

SDA

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is recommending that the General Assembly approve an Olympic boxing tournament for the next Summer Games. The background to the IOC Executive Board's decision is the provisional recognition of World Boxing as an association partner within the Olympic Movement, said IOC President Thomas Bach after the deliberations in Pylos, Greece.

"I am very confident that the Session will approve the proposal," Bach added. This would give boxers all over the world the certainty of having a chance to participate in the Olympic Games, provided their national federation is a member of the new umbrella organization World Boxing.

Those responsible at World Boxing reacted with relief. "This is a very significant and important decision for Olympic boxing," said President Boris van der Vorst. "World Boxing is aware that participation in the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right." World Boxing will be a "trustworthy and reliable partner" that "respects and upholds the values of the Olympic Charter".

This followed a fierce dispute between the IOC and the International Boxing Association (IBA), which has since been expelled. The IBA is criticized for corruption, management problems and distortion of competition. The IOC was responsible for organizing the boxing tournaments at the 2021 Games in Tokyo and three years later in Paris. For the Games in Los Angeles, the IOC had initially no longer included boxing in the competition program.

Since its foundation in Frankfurt in November 2023, the new World Boxing Federation has united more than 80 national federations from five continents, thus fulfilling an important IOC criterion for recognition. According to reports, the association also adheres closely to the IOC's requirements in terms of anti-doping, transparency, good governance and compliance.