Analysis by Ed Hula: Los Angeles Next Turn of the Screw for Olympic Boxing
The streak may be over for Olympic boxing.
After 125+ years in the Summer Olympics, boxing seems fated to lose its spot after Paris 2024.
Unless there’s a last-minute rapprochement between IOC President Thomas Bach and Umar Kremlev, president of the estranged International Boxing Association, the full IOC likely will vote in September to drop the sport from Los Angeles 2028 onward.
After years of scandal involving judging at the Olympics as well as management issues within the federation, the IOC may have lost patience with the pace of change at IBA. While changes have been made since the IOC sanctioned the federation in 2019, Bach remains unhappy that Kremlev was elected as IF president last year. The Russian boxing leader prevailed in voting by a two to one margin over Netherlands candidate Boris van der Vorst. Kremlev won support from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The U.S., Great Britain, Canada and European nations backed van der Vorst. Unspoken was the preference of the IOC for the Dutch candidate. The overall election was subject to controversy and appeals.
So the standoff goes, almost a year since Kremlev took charge. For a second time, the IOC – not federation officials — is overseeing qualification for the Paris Olympics. The upcoming world championships in Tashkent in May, as well as the women’s worlds earlier in the year, won’t count toward Olympic standing.
Against that backdrop, the IOC Session in Mumbai this September will get to decide on the 28 sports in the core program of the Summer Olympics from 2028 onward. Boxing is not among them. Also scrambling to remain are weightlifting and modern pentathlon, plagued by their own federation foibles. Standing by to enter the core program are skateboard, sport climbing and surfing.
Even the launch of a proposal for a new federation called World Boxing won’t provide any immediate aid. The plans were announced last week. It is led by van der Vorst, joined by allies from national federations including the U.S., Great Britain and France which supported his IBA presidential bid.
A congress to formally organize the new federation won’t happen until November, which will be too late for the IOC Session to consider before it votes.
Other attempts to form new federations to replace existing IFs have not been successful. The last time was some 20 years ago when efforts were made to launch a new IF for volleyball federation FIVB.
Short of an extraordinary bending of rules and regulations, time appears to be simply running out for boxing in 2028.
Boxing would then become another among the dozen plus sports vying for one of the additional sports allowed for each host city to select. LA28 is already pondering a field of nine other contenders: cricket, break-dancing, baseball/softball, flag football, karate, kickboxing, lacrosse, squash and motor sport.
There are real-world consequences should boxing lose its spot in the Olympics. Without Olympic recognition, many of the national boxing groups around the globe will lose government funding. Young boxers will no longer be eligible for Olympic Solidarity support, which is vital for athletes in smaller nations.
In Los Angeles and Southern California — a hotbed of boxing with dozens of gyms — a generation of boys and girls will miss the opportunity to use hometown Games as their inspiration if the IOC ends boxing’s Olympic tenure.
Brisbane 2032 would seem to be the next chance to bring boxing back to the Olympics. The 2030 Youth Olympic Games, place TBA, could be a possible prelude to a return to Oz. But none of that will happen without a federation approved by the IOC.
With the seeming inevitability of the IOC delisting boxing as a recognized sport, the question is about to shift to finding a federation that can work with the IOC. IBA seems unwilling to go quietly while World Boxing is similarly determined. Expect an epic battle as the two rival federations jostle for the support of nearly 200 national boxing federations.
Given the protagonists, the blows yet to be exchanged could be jarring. This will be a competition unlike anything in the annals of Olympic boxing.
Ed Hula has covered Olympic and related elite sports events for more than 30 years.
Hula Sport Communications provides consulting and editorial services to select clients. Contact Sheila S. Hula, sheila@hulasportcommunications.com for more information.