The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provisionally recognised World Boxing after disassociating with the Russian-led and funded IBA.

The IBA – International Boxing Association – has been the governing body behind boxing at the Olympic Games but has made controversial calls and has Russian ties.

They said boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan had failed “to meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors” relating to unspecified eligibility. Those tests sparked debate at last year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The organisation’s president, Umar Kremlev, is a Russian and the IBA was stripped of Olympic hosting rights.

The IOC has now backed World Boxing given it has 78 national federations from the five Olympic continents signed up and four continental confederations are already established.

World Boxing just bout there

A IOC statement goes on to say that World Boxing “has provided evidence that 62 per cent of the boxers and 58 per cent of the boxing medallists at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are affiliated to National Federations that are members of World Boxing” and that it “has put in place the structure and documentation for good governance, and has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance”.

It is an example of Russian-run entities being distanced from the Olympic movement, though it is not certain whether Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2028 LA Games given US President Donald Trump’s apparent softening towards the Kremlin.

“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 concluded.

World Boxing states that it “is a not-for-profit, international sports federation which aims to put the interests of boxers first and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement”.