Boxing was confirmed in the sports program of the Los Angeles-2028 Olympic Games, after years of conflict between the COI (International Olympic Committee) and the International Federation responsible for decades for the management of the sport.
In a vote with the hand raised at the 144th session of the IOC, gathered in Costa Navarino (Greece) to define on Thursday (20) the new president of the institution, was unanimously approved the recommendation presented on Monday by the executive committee of the entity.
“We made a real decision, to include boxing in the Los Angeles Games program,” said Thomas Bach, who will leave the presidency of the IOC after 12 years ahead of the committee.
The presence of boxing, heir to the Ancient Greece Pancrácio, which has been on the Olympic program since the first Modern Era games in Athens-1896, was unknown due to the prolonged IBA (International Boxing Association) conflict, which has not been recognized as the Olympic Boxing entity since 2019 for its governance problems and its financial dependence on Gazprom, the Russian energy giant.
In February, CoI announced the “provisional” recognition of the young World Boxing International Federation, definitively removing the IBA from the Olympic movement.
Created in 2023, World Boxing had only 78 federations in late February, but “showed evidence that 62% of boxers and boxers and 58% of medalists at the Paris-2024 Olympic Games are affiliated with these federations, according to the IOC.
After IBA’s suspension, the IOC had to directly assume the organization of the Olympic tournament in Tokyo-2020 and Paris-2024, and sought “a reliable partner” to assume this task.
