Why Boxing is at Risk of Being Thrown Out of the Olympics in 2028

Highlights

Boxing is currently not scheduled to feature at the 2028 Olympics.
The sport has featured at every Games – bar one – since 1904.
The IOC has overseen the sport at the last two Olympics, but is unwilling to do so for a third-straight time in Los Angeles.

Boxing has been one of the most talked about sports of the Paris Olympics so far. However, as it stands today, it won’t feature in Los Angeles in 2028. The sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1904 and has only missed one staging of the Games since – that being the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s controversial win over Angela Carini on Thursday has seen Olympic boxing hit the headlines in recent days. However, the sport’s future in the Games has hung in the balance for some time now – and it’s all down to the fact that the International Olympic Committe (IOC) refuses to recognise the previous federation that ran the sport at the Olympic level – the International Boxing Association (IBA).

Years of “governance, financial and ethical issues” led to the IOC stripping the IBA of its recognition shortly before Tokyo 2020. For the last two Olympics, the IOC has set up a special taskforce to administer the Olympic boxing tournament. In 2024, this group is known as the Paris Boxing Unit. However, the IOC has made it clear that they will not continue this arrangement for a third-straight Olympics.

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A spokesperson for the IOC recently confirmed boxing’s status for the 2028 Games to iNews:

“As it stands, boxing is currently not on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA 28. The IOC has made it very clear that it cannot again organise such Olympic boxing competitions. In order to remedy this, Olympic boxing needs to be organised by a credible, well-governed international federation. Discussions are ongoing in this respect.”

A large number of concerns led to the breakdown of relations between the IOC and the IBA. Chief among them was the issue of potential corruption in the judging of fights. Paris 2024 suggests that there’s plenty of work to do in this area – with a number of bouts ending in controversial decisions.

With fights taking place over only three rounds of three minutes, it can sometimes be difficult to split a pair of combatants. The long-term successor to the IBA will need to look at ways to clean up the scoring system.

Independent governance was also a big issue under the IBA, with the organisation having attempted to prevent Ukrainian boxers from representing their nation and its flag. This was in contrast to their stance of endorsing and promoting boxers from Russia and Belarus, which was against the global consensus.

The body hoping to step in and save the sport’s Olympic future is World Boxing. Currently backed by 37 nations across the globe, World Boxing is headed by Boris van der Vorst. The Dutchman has a strong pedigree in the administration of the sport and was once in line to become president of the IBA, before being removed from the ballot at the last minute in contentious circumstances.

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The group appears to be boxing’s best hope of gaining an Olympic reprieve in 2028. However, the IOC has yet to officially make any decision on whether it will entrust World Boxing with amateur boxing’s greatest tournament.

A final decision on boxing’s place at the 2028 Olympics has been delayed until early next year. World Boxing has just a few short months to prove that it can put the questions over the integrity of amateur boxing to bed and help the sport maintain its rich Olympic legacy.

World Boxing’s mission has the backing of unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk who went on record earlier this week to call amateur boxing “rotten on an international level”. Speaking on the sport’s future at Olympic level, the Ukrainian issued a rallying cry to administrators: “No promises need to be made; we need to act. When you do this, people see the work done and come to you, asking to collaborate.”