IBA in death throes

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has been stripped of recognition by IOC and an appeal for reinstatement before the Court of Arbitration for Sport was recently denied, leaving the embattled organization virtually impotent in regaining what was once universal authority. IOC put its foot down and took over supervision of boxing in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, finally giving up on IBA after unfulfilled promises to reform. IOC will continue to supervise the sport in the Paris Olympics while a new group called World Boxing attempts to pick up where IBA left off and will eventually apply for IOC affiliation as an international federation.

IOC withdrew recognition of IBA on a 69-1 vote during an extraordinary session last month. IBA was given the chance to reform since its IOC suspension in 2019 but after four years of recalcitrance, reached the end of the rope. IOC’s decision had nothing to do with Russia’s isolation from the Olympic family because of the Ukraine war. IBA has been tainted with charges of corruption, misguided governance and partisanship since the infamous era of the Pakistani dictator Anwar Chowdhry who ruled the discredited body from 1986 to 2006. Then, things got worse with Uzbek Gafur Rakhimov and later Russian Umar Kremlev at IBA’s helm. Kremlev remains IBA president and is struggling to keep the organization relevant. Last weekend, Kremlev was in Phuket, Thailand, to dissuade the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC), headed by Pichai Chunhavajira, from defecting to World Boxing. Kremlev said IBA will stage a World Boxing Forum in China on Aug. 27 and hold a congress in another Asian country on Dec. 9. Kremlev took the trip to Thailand after Chunhavajira announced that ASBC would leave IBA in the wake of IOC’s decision to withdraw recognition.

Meanwhile, World Boxing has formed an interim board with representatives from the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the Philippines. The threat of removing boxing from the Olympic calendar prompted World Boxing’s emergence. “It’s vital boxing continues to remain at the heart of the Olympic movement,” said UK Boxing chief executive Matthew Holt, quoted in the weekly publication Boxing News. “To achieve this, we need to reestablish a relationship of trust between those who govern the sport and all of its stakeholders. World Boxing aims to deliver this by creating a financially transparent organization that delivers fair competition and acts in the interest of boxers and the sport.”

The late ABAP president Ed Picson backed World Boxing’s creation and was at the forefront of the campaign to preserve the sport’s integrity. His wife Karina, a respected IBA technical delegate, has continued the fight and sits in the World Boxing interim board on a personal capacity. ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas said a letter was sent to World Boxing three weeks ago to signify the intention to affiliate. “We are in the process of filling up the application form,” he said. “We were not present in the Phuket conference but IBA has been reaching out. I’m told World Boxing will call a congress sometime in November to organize an elected board.”