The International Olympic Committee would love to have boxing at the Los Angeles 2028 Games but first needs to see the creation of a new global governing body for the sport, it said on Tuesday.
The IOC stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance, and the Olympic body has not included the sport on the LA 2028 programme yet.
"We would love to see boxing, we want to see boxing on the programme in LA. Now it is up to the boxing community to organise themselves for the sport and for the athletes," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference.
A new organisation called World Boxing was launched in 2023 and currently has 37 members, still far fewer than the IBA, but is not recognised by the IOC.
Adams was speaking a day after a shambolic IBA press conference in Paris where the organisation's President Umar Kremlev, a Russian, attacked the IOC in a long and rambling presentation.
Kremlev, addressing media online, meandered from personal attacks against IOC President Thomas Bach to railing against the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony and defending his own fight against corruption.
GENDER DISPUTE
The IOC and IBA have been at loggerheads for days over the participation of two female boxers , Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting at the Games.
The IBA banned them midway through last year's World Championships following a chromosome test, citing gender ineligibility, but the IOC has allowed them both to compete, saying they are women.
The IBA press conference, which has triggered a protest by Taiwan's sports administration , was initially organised to provide evidence of the tests conducted on the two boxers but instead caused more confusion.
"I am not going to comment on the chaotic scenes yesterday," Adams said. "It clearly demonstrates that the sport of boxing needs a new federation to run boxing."
"If you ever needed any evidence at all that the IBA is unfit to run boxing just look at the key members of the IBA who took part in that travesty yesterday."
