The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already left boxing off the program for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and is now threatening to remove the sweet science from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
IOC Statement: “The recent IBA Congress has shown once more that IBA has no real interest in the sport of boxing and the boxers, but is only interested in its own power. The decisions and discussions to keep boxers away from the Olympic qualifiers and the Olympic Games cannot be understood differently. It has also become clear again, that IBA wants to distract from its own grave governance issues by pointing to the past, which has been addressed by the IOC already in 2019. There is no will to understand the real issues, the contrary: the extension of the sponsorship contract with Gazprom as the sole main sponsor of IBA reinforces the concerns, which the IOC has expressed since 2019 over and over again. This announcement confirms that IBA will continue to depend on a company which is largely controlled by the Russian government. The concerns also include the recent handling of the CAS decision which did not lead a new Presidential election, but only a vote not to hold an election. The IOC will have to take all this into consideration when it takes further decisions, which may – after these latest developments – have to include the cancellation of boxing for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.”
IBA Response: “It is not with joy or pleasure that we write to you today as many of our member nations head into their holiday season. However, it is imperative that we address the latest attack on IBA’s athletes and IBA by the IOC for the new leadership’s continued commitment to becoming a sound and independent organisation, purged of prior governance issues and ultimately a financially independent sustainable organisation.
“At the recent Global Boxing Forum in Abu Dhabi, you denounced the divide and conquer approach of the IOC. We have always worked and will continue to in the best interests of National Federations, athletes and coaches and it is crystal clear that our stakeholders and boxing family will continue to be united.
“The Olympic Games are a global sporting asset that belongs to the athletes of all sports and cannot be a tool of extortion of the International Sports Federations for purely political reasons, as is unacceptably happening now. With that, IBA will continue to fight for its athletes to make sure you have every opportunity and equal right to participate in the Olympic Games, free from discrimination and separate from the politics of sport which has now become the normalized approach.
“We are being criticized for renewing a commercial partnership that was first made in 2021. This partnership was announced to be renewed and confirmed by National Federations at the IBA Ordinary Congress 2022 as well as a new 6-year partnership with Australian equipment supplier STING. We are now securing additional partnerships which are no doubt positively impacted by the immense work done by IBA, led by Professor Richard McLaren and his team. These steps are the start of the many initiatives and governance reform to repair the reputational damage done by AIBA’s former President, IOC Member, and Executive Board Member, Ching-Kuo Wu. At this critical juncture for boxing, we cannot simply accept that the IOC refuses to acknowledge the misdeeds of a key figure in their Olympic Movement while continuing to criticize IBA and flatly ignoring the countless governance reforms undertaken.
“It is clear, that the persecution of IBA athletes will continue until ultimate control of boxing and its leadership has been achieved. The discrimination against you and IBA’s leadership and partners based on citizenship, directly contradicts the Olympic Charter, and only highlights the issue of athletes and sport being manipulated for geopolitical purposes.
“With that said, with the threat of Boxing being removed from the Paris 2024 programme, IBA will continue to reach out to the senior leadership of the IOC to work towards a de-escalation of this current development and with a view to LA 2028.
“As we end a challenging yet successful 2022, our steadfast message to you, is that we will do everything in our power to make sure that you have all the opportunities to compete internationally. Alongside this, IBA will continue to host events that allow you to have a financially sustainable career that will lay the foundation for life after boxing.”
If the IOC bans the boxing, let’s stand united and ban the Olympics. Red, Blue, or Rainbow with a fabulous pink vape. We ALL need to stand united and ban the Olympics. Let’s all be Jimmy Carters and just say FK the Olympics if they pull this sht.
Bans The Boxing Events, or Bans Boxing. Sorry for the grammatical error.
This CRAP pisses me off to know end.
Boxing has become a poor edition of sport like entertainment. Drugs and corruption have totally taken over the once honorable sport. If it does not police itself, it can longer expect others not to intervene.
Olympics have become irrelevant since they first let the pros in.
Unfortunately boxing sucks in the olympics with no real superstars coming out with gold medals. The last American gold medalists was back in 2004 when Andre Ward won the gold. I would still want boxing in the Olympics because there is more international talent, but wouldn’t be surprised if they removed boxing completely.
Arturo, this is very short sighted and not accurate. The Olympics still churns out stars and champions: Loma, Usyk, Anthony Joshua and if you think the US is not producing any: Shakur Stevenson, Deontay Wilder come to mind. The US definitely has lost a step, but we’re still getting a few.
Joshua and Wilder are both overrated and not very good boxers. Joshua beat an aging Klitschko but hasn’t beaten anyone good otherwise. Wilder still to this date hasn’t beaten anyone great. Knocking out bums don’t make you a star. Yeah they were Champion but to say they are stars in the sport is dead wrong. Popular maybe but great fighters a big no.
Arturo, come on dude. You are the #1 poster on here. You should know better than this. Anthony Joshua & Usyk both won gold. Andy Cruz is a Cuban slave, so he will not get to show his talents because Cuba is an oppressed state. Otherwise, he would be the top lightweight talent. Loma won in 2008 and 2012. Shakur Stevenson almost won gold. Deontay Wilder won the bronze in 2008. There are stars from The Olympics. Instead of eliminating the sport, let the boxers box like they do in the pros. Plus, GGG won silver in 2004. That is why Dirrell had to settle for bronze. GGG beat Dirrell up.
I hope boxing remains as an Olympic sport, but it has definitely waned in interest the last several Olympics, especially in the US. I viewed every Olympic year as a graduating class as the Olympians and Olympic hopefuls turned professional, producing a new crop of talent. Nowadays, being a former Olympian doesn’t carry the same weight as it did before. I would hate to see Olympic boxing disappear
They tried to get rid of Olympic wrestling too. This world has gone mad. They were going to replace it with water dancing crap or something of the sort.
They did cut wrestling from the Olympics. So, the the sport completely changed:
1. FILA was disbanded and UWW (United World Wrestling) took over.
2. Rules were changed to create higher scoring matches (pushout rule) and pushed wrestlers to take more chances (in a tie score, last person to score a point wins).
3. Created the same amount of weightclasses for women and men.
4. Pushed sports diplomacy projects between countries like the US, Iran, and Russia.
5. Having international stars like Burroughs, Sadulaev, and Yosida certainly helped.
6. Seeing NCAA champs having an immediate impact at the Olympic level (Dake, Taylor, Burroughs, Steveson, etc.) helped the US audience as well.
On point comment here guys!
Great. Now Cuba can let their best boxers go pro.
Since the moment professionals were allow to compete in the Summer Olympics, the whole meaning of fair competition was killed. Basketball was a beauty when only young amateur talents were participating same were Tennis, Baseball and Boxing, but then came the stupid idea to allow seasoned, experienced professionals to participate and here came USA with the best of the NBA to secure gold in Basketball and MLB players involved in the Baseball team. Two options here IMO: Make the Summer Olympics pure amateurs like the old times or shut the f…ck up and disappear
I agree completely, Burucho. I remember when the summer Olympics, especially, and to some extent, the winter Olympics, were very highly anticipated. Now, I doubt if many folks care enough to even notice when they get here. Go back to strictly amateurs in EVERY sport that competes, and though I don’t know about today’s fans, but I’d bet all us old guys would look forward to seeing real Olympics once again. Plus, do away with all the sports that’s there for dressing only.
Boxing is an original Olympic sport. It’s as ridiculous to remove it as much as it is nonsense to argue that the sport is too primitive. Sports in general are a perfect reflection of our primitive nature and our desire to conquer death through physical power and prowess. Sure, it’s violent and sure it’s primitive, that’s our nature, and it is the nature of all life as we know it. We simply mirror and reflect what we naturally are. The Olympics provides a stage for viewing, understanding and appreciating such performance, art, and ability. To take away boxing based on any reasoning from the perspective of violence, or even as a way of rebuffing the sports corruption issues, is to miss the point entirely.
As a wrestler and coach, I feel your pain.
Sorry but i agree with the Olympic committee on this, the IBA have been corrupt for some time with a history of bad judging and favoritism to the absurd overturns of fights.
Keep this corruption out of the Olympics.
Yes, keep the corruption out, but not boxing. You’re missing the point and punishing the fighters who don’t deserve this.
The Olympics as a whole are irrelevant if you ask me. Who cares about 3-4 round amateur fights?? The scoring system is also a joke. I have zero interest in watching.
Yea. Who cares what these clowns do. Pray for the best and hope nobody blows up the earth.
Seacrest. Out.
The IOC is ran by a bunch of marxist, communist globalists, so I have not watched the Olympics for probably 16 years now. Olympic boxing is so screwed up anyways, the best fighters ( USA especially ) almost always get screwed out of the gold.
I do not know amateur boxing but if it is run on a similar non-sensical basis to the pro game then I am not surprised by this development. We have a host of self-serving sanctioning bodies that only care to care for their constituencies. Boxing’s major problems, such as poor scoring, have been around for decades with no progress whatsoever!!! Let’s be honest, boxing is now a minor sport that, on average, delivers mediocre returns to the fans.
How is it that banning one organization with a shady background means banning an entire sport?
This is makes absolutely 0 sense and whoever is in charge needs to get their head checked or banned themself.
The corruption in amateur boxing is a million times worse than the professionals. Medals are bought. Roy Jones and Holyfield weren’t the only 2 who were blatantly robbed. The boxers work very hard only to get screwed over.
What are they going to replace boxing with?
Vape Smoking Rhythmic Gymnastics.
The IOC can go play in traffic, blindfolded, during rush hour. Combat has been around since the first Olympics, just as wrestling has. The Olympics are supposed to be a neutral area where every country has the opportunity to compete in different sports, in a friendly manner.
Politics and the overall global pu$$ification is interfering in every enjoyable pastime.
The reason they hate it so much is because these athletes come from under privilaged backgrounds. Blacks Hispanics, & Eastern Europeans, from the slums of these countries have been the dominants competitors in Olympic Boxing.
Bureaucrats destroy everything. Why we allow these sociopaths to run everything is beyond me. Humans will end up extincting themselves because they refuse to fight back to save themselves. It’s probably for the best anyway as we truly are a wretched and destructive species.
What the Olympics need to ban are all of those transgender and intersex athletes that are competing against women, very shameful. The only reason why I watch the Olympics is for the boxing, if cancelled I’m boycotting the Olympics. Nuff said!
No decision can be made on adding or canceling an Olympic event unless Greece agrees to no else should have the power to make these decisions olympics are Greek.
A lot of boxers all over the world training hard and aiming to be come Olympics medalist in future, IOC should think beyond the boxing executives and forge ahead.
look forward
im too lazy to read why, but if they do the Olympic will not be the same.