IBA stays recalcitrant

IOC has denied IBA (International Boxing Association) of recognition as an accredited federation and will reinstate boxing in the Los Angeles Olympic calendar only if the sport is supervised by another organization that is compliant with IOC rules. IOC blacklisted boxing in the next Olympics and will only reopen the door when it admits a new boxing federation with global representation.

IBA was disenfranchised on an IOC Executive Board vote with 69 affirmative, one negative and 10 abstentions in June last year. IOC lowered the boom on IBA after questioning ethics in governance, financial integrity and fairness in the conduct of fights. To keep boxing in the Olympics, IOC itself supervised the bouts in Tokyo and Paris but won’t do it for LA. IOC president Thomas Bach set an end-of-next-year deadline for a new federation to seek and gain recognition.

Riding a white horse to save boxing from vanishing in LA is World Boxing, launched in April last year and committed to collaborate with IOC in retaining the sport in the Olympics. World Boxing now has 42 member national federations, including the Philippines and covers the five continents that participate in international boxing. “It is clear there is a huge appetite for change in international boxing and that many national federations now recognize the only way we can ensure that boxing has a future within the Olympic movement is by joining World Boxing,” said the body’s president Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands. “It would be a tragedy if Paris 2024 turned out to be the last time ever that boxing appeared on the Olympic program. IOC has made it abundantly clear that the only way that boxing will be restored to the program for Los Angeles 2028 is if it has a trusted and reliable international federation to work with that has support of the national federations.”

Last November, ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas was elected as World Boxing Executive Board member during the Swiss-based organization’s inaugural congress in Frankfurt. World Boxing will hold its first event in Asia, the World Cup, in Mongolia in October and the World U19 Championships will be staged in Colorado in November. ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo said the Philippines will compete in both events and lineups are now in process.

IBA, however, refuses to back down, causing a major disconnect among national federations and courting IOC disfavor towards the sport. IBA’s widely discredited Russian president Umar Kremlev has brought in a new group US Boxing Federation, headed by Roy Jones, to replace USA Boxing which joined World Boxing and his secretary-general/CEO is Chris Roberts, a former British Army officer. This disrespect for IOC and the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to dismiss IBA’s appeal to be reinstated by IOC is a disservice to boxing. But IBA still claims a membership of 192 countries, including those with World Boxing links like the Philippines, Chinese-Taipei and Pakistan. The state of confusion and chaos can only signal the death knell for boxing in the Olympics.