A breakaway international governing body for boxing is set to be announced by a group of National Federations in a bid to save the sport’s place on the Olympic programme.
A group of countries, led by the United States and Great Britain will officially confirm they are quitting the International Boxing Association (IBA), led by Russia’s Umar Kremlev to launch a new organisation called ‘World Boxing’.
An online briefing was due to be staged yesterday and will be attended by four ‘boxing leaders’ with representatives from USA Boxing and GB Boxing joined by a group of European countries.
They are promising to make a “major global announcement regarding the future of Olympic boxing”.
“Four boxing leaders will be available to answer questions about this worldwide development which is designed to secure boxing’s on-going place at the heart of the Olympic Movement and deliver a better future for the sport,” read a statement from the organisers.
Boxing’s place at the Olympic Games has been under threat due to a feud between the IBA and International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC is set to manage the sport at Paris 2024 for the second consecutive games due to continuing concerns with the IBA’s governance, including finances and refereeing and judging.
Its Olympic status for Los Angeles 2028 is still a topic of debate, but the IOC has sent out multiple warnings that the IBA is at risk of being excluded.
Last month, the IBA threatened legal action against the IOC after it invited competition officials to serve at qualifying tournaments for next year’s Olympics in Paris and the Games’ boxing event itself.
USA Boxing was one of the first to announce its boycott of the IBA Women’s World Championships earlier this year and the Men’s World Championships in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, scheduled for May 1 to 14.
It was later joined by the National Federations of Britain, Ireland, Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Poland, Norway and New Zealand.
Kremlev, who has caused controversy by allowing Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags amid the invasion of Ukraine, had previously described those boycotting as “worse than hyenas and jackals.”
The US is the most successful boxing nation in the history of the Olympics with 50 gold medals.
Britain is the third most successful country with a total of 20 gold medals. —Insidethegames.biz
