Boxing not currently on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games

Jan 06, 2025 Sports

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Kaieteur Sports-I have just returned from the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) enormous convention in Hamburg, Germany.

It is an annual event at which the WBC’s Board of Governor reviews its ratings and sets through its mandatories, a schedule of what is to take place for the next several months with respect to the global competition for its coveted World Titles.

Representatives of the entire global boxing community including the global sports press are generally in attendance and it is also at this forum that all matters of significance affecting the global boxing community are ventilated.

High on this year’s agenda was the global state of amateur boxing.  Indeed, this major issue has gripped the attention of the boxing world for the last several years as the global boxing community has been forced to grapple with the unravelling of AIBA (Amateur International Boxing Association) and the current and eventual devastating decision of the International Olympic Committee to remove boxing as a sport on the agenda of the Olympics Games of 2028 scheduled for Los Angeles, California, USA.

This incredibly distressing news means that young boxers who have worked and trained for years will no longer enjoy the opportunity to compete for Olympic Glory for their countries.

But how could this decision which affects thousands of young athletes and the hopes and aspirations of every nation for Olympic glory, possibly have happened? – Well, AIBA was the only organization conferred with the “International Federation” status ( IF) for boxing by the IOC and by which they were permitted to organize, control and implement the many global qualifying competitions by which boxers are able to compete for Olympic medals including competition at the actual games. However, AIBA, for years quagmired and embroiled in accusations of lack of financial accountability, financial mismanagement and endemic corruption in judging and refereeing, following allegations of poor and rigged decisions at the Rio 2016 Olympics, has been under intense scrutiny by the IOC.

Eventually, after numerous failures by AIBA to satisfy the IOC of the implementation of corrective actions sufficient to allow the continuity of its IF status, the IOC, in a decision taken on 26 June 2019, suspended the IOC’s recognition of AIBA (subsequently the IBA as of 2021), pursuant to OC Rules 3.7, 18.2. 8, 18.2. 11 and 25 §2, essentially negating their status as an IOC authorized “International Federation”.

Simply put, AIBA no longer has the authority to and cannot take amateur fighters to the Olympic Games.

Of course, this created immediately a complete disruption of the process and the IOC, to its credit, appointed a committee which has been trying to manage the system and fill the void itself in continuing to bring young boxers to the Olympics. Now it appears for all intents and purposes, the committee appears to have thrown in the towel (no pun intended) and announced that Boxing will not be on the agenda at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Yes indeed, this is correct -Boxing is not currently on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games  and the International Olympic Committee has now reiterated  and restated that the sport must find a suitable new governing body by early 2025, to be restored to the lineup for the Games.

So, no more boxing at the Olympics unless the IOC appoints a new International Federation, a disaster for boxing and especially for governments of the world which all want Olympic glory for their countries and their young Olympic aspirant boxers.

Sadly, many governments are not even aware of these developments. Many of their own representatives on the IBA board, usually a member of the local amateur boxing association, appear to have not apprised their local Sports Ministers that the IBA is now impotent to act for and behalf of the IOC and can no longer provide a pathway for their boxers to the Olympic games.

This is particularly difficult for countries like Guyana whose only Olympic Medal has been in boxing and indeed the sport still remains its best possible chance to secure another but like other Caribbean nations, may be completely unaware of the current circumstances which threaten to put perhaps a permanent stay on any such ambitions. Beyond the Caribbean, I was not surprised to learn that many African, Asian and even some European nations are similarly unaware, a not difficult situation to understand if their representatives by full disclosure stand to lose beneficial interests associated with the loss of IBA’s IF status.

But, all is not lost. The appointment of any new International Federation will bring an immediate opportunity for boxing to be reinstated on the Olympic Agenda but are there qualified candidates for IOC consideration? The answer thankfully is yes. World Boxing is an international sports organization regulating amateur boxing. It was formed specifically in response to this crisis. It has applied to the IOC for International Federation status and is fully capable of picking up the mantle.

The WBC’s President Mauricio Sulaiman and his Board of Governors, recognizing the pivotal role of Olympic Boxing in the overall wellbeing of the sport, has in response to an invited address at the Convention from the President of World Boxing, Boris Van Der Vorst, committed the WBC’s support to World Boxing’s efforts to win “International Federation” status from the IOC by its early 2025 deadline. In voicing his confidence in the capacity of World Boxing to implement and sustain an Olympic Program, President Sulaiman described it as the only viable alternative to save boxing as an Olympic sport. He urged the 161 country membership of the WBC through its affiliated confederations to at earliest, align themselves with World Boxing in support of its quest to be ratified by the IOC to bring boxing back to the Olympic games.

For our part, it is imperative that our Caribbean Governments including Guyana, Ministers of Sport and administrators, urgently recognize the gravity of the current circumstances and act with dispatch to secure an immediate affiliation to World Boxing in support of its bid to secure a favourable reversal of the decision  by the IOC to exclude Boxing from the Olympic games and  regain the opportunity for Olympic Glory for our amateur boxers and our respective Countries.(Peter Abdool, President – GBBC)

Note: the author is available to any Minister/ Sports Administrator/ National Boxing Authority of the Caribbean to assist with acquiring membership or affiliation to World Boxing.

(Boxing not currently on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games)

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• 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Boxing, boxing world, Germany, Hamburg, World Boxing Council’s

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