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United Arab Emirates to host 2025 IBA World Boxing Championships

President of the International Boxing Association Umar Kremlev did not specify the dates of the event

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The 2025 IBA World Boxing Championships will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Umar Kremlev said on Wednesday.

Earlier media reports suggested Serbia or Kazakhstan could play host to the championship.

"The World Boxing Championship will be held in the United Arab Emirates," Kremlev said at a press conference, without specifying the dates of the event.

IBA’s situation since 2019

In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (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. 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, then-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.

In late February, the IOC Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee provisionally recognized World Boxing as the official global governing body for the sport of boxing.

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