GENEVA, February 26. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) made a decision to temporarily recognize World Boxing as the international sports federation, the IOC said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee provisionally recognized World Boxing as the International Federation within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level," the statement said adding that the decision was made "during a remote meeting held today."
"Following an assessment of the situation of World Boxing, it was noted that, among the criteria for recognition that the IF [International Federation] has satisfied, World Boxing is composed of 78 National Federations from the five continents; and four continental confederations are already established," the statement continued.
According to the IOC, World Boxing "has put in place the structure and documentation for good governance (including the World Boxing Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest Policy and declaration form, Anti-Corruption Policy, and Finance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference), and has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation, to be compliant with the appropriate standards."
World Boxing "has successfully applied for World Anti-Doping Code Signatory Status, which has been accepted by WADA, and the World Boxing contract with the ITA is fully implemented."
"The assessment concluded that World Boxing has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition as the IF within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level," the statement from the IOC added.
In 2019, the IOC announced a decision to temporarily revoke the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) recognition status with the organization citing the financial and management crisis within the IBA as the reason. The IOC demanded the international boxing federation make reforms and suspended it from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In June 2023, the IOC ruled at its session to strip the IBA of its Olympic membership stating that the boxing federation "failed to fulfil the conditions set by the IOC in its decision communicated to the IBA on 9 December 2021 - which was not challenged by the IBA - for lifting the suspension of the IBA’s recognition."
Russia’s Umar Kremlev took the reins of the IBA in late 2020 and the international boxing federation took a stance against the IOC's recommendations to strip athletes representing Russia and Belarus of their national identity. Boxers from both countries compete in IBA-sponsored events without any international restrictions.
The boxing federations of the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the Philippines canceled their membership in protest and formed a new international organization, World Boxing.
In mid-October 2023, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach ruled out any chance of the International Boxing Association (IBA) being reinstated to the Olympic movement.
In May 2024, the IOC declared that boxers representing national federations that are members of the International Boxing Association (IBA) would be banned from the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in the United States.