After months of innuendo regarding boxing’s Los Angeles 2028 outlook, the global Olympic body announced on Wednesday that it will provisionally back the American-based federation as the worldwide governing authority, leaving the IBA in limbo.

The International Olympic Committee broke the news, which makes the recently created World Boxing the one in charge of internationally surveying and organising the sport, midday after a remote meeting by its Executive Board, thus severing once and for all its remaining ties with the International Boxing Association, who had been stripped of its official recognition back in April 2023.

The newly recognised federation -albeit provisionally- emerged coincidentally, and after almost two years of intense jostling for boxing’s governance throne, seems to have landed a definitive punch to the long-standing ruling body formerly known as AIBA, who originally fell in disarray in 2019 because of financial, governance and ethical concerns.

With the IOC pressing matters and the sport at risk of being ousted from the Olympic programme before the Los Angeles Summer Games take place in less than four years, the Thomas Bach-led organisation pointed to World Boxing’s growing list of affiliated national federations, up to 78 from the required minimum of 75, as proof that the American association had been able to get its act together in time for the next Olympic cycle.

"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 IOC’s statement read.

While the Russian-based IBA has not released an official count of its member associations, over 120 did attend its last official congress in Dubai in December. Earlier Wednesday, the organisation’s president, Umar Kremlev,lashed out on social media at Bach, a frequent target of his criticism, for not allowing Russian and Belarusan athletes to compete representing their respective countries in the Olympics.

The IOC detailed that World Boxing had provided evidence that 62 per cent of the fighters and 58 per cent of the boxing medallists at Paris 2024, whose boxing tournament was organised by the Olympic body itself, are now affiliated to national federations that are members of the US-based organisation that Boris Van der Vorst presides.

World Boxing President Boris Van der Vorst. GETTY IMAGES

Regarding governance criteria, World Boxing "has put in place the structure and documentation for good governance (including the World Boxing Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest Policy and declaration form, Anti-Corruption Policy, and Finance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference), and has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation, to be compliant with the appropriate standards", the IOC considered.

In a separate statement, the newly-approved federation celebrated the decision. "This is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic Movement. Keeping its place at the Olympic Games is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and this decision by the IOC takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme," Van der Vorst said.

The IOC grants provisional recognition to World Boxing as the International Federation governing boxing at the world level.

The details⬇️ https://t.co/3XZF3470LK pic.twitter.com/v1JUOpHuY2

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) February 26, 2025

The head of the association’s Olympic Commission is none other than Kazakhstan’s former two-time unified world middleweight champion and 2004 Athens Games silver medallist Gennadiy Golovkin, who considered that "receiving provisional Olympic recognition from the IOC is an important achievement and demonstrates that our sport is on the right path."

The IBA’s own path seems now more in doubt than ever as the association that has backed prize money initiatives, among others, is still very much in touch with the amateur boxing world but struggles to climb back in the Olympic ring after being left out in Paris 2024 and, now apparently, overtaken by World Boxing with LA28 on the horizon. Kremlev, who has challenged the sanctions in court and questioned the rival federation’s financial muscle, was hoping that March’s IOC presidential elections would open a new door for reinstatement, but at the moment will have to battle to get off the corner and counter with some punches of his own.

"Today’s decision by the IOC is an important milestone, however everyone connected with World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Movement is a privilege and a responsibility and not a right. There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone is as committed as ever to continuing to work together and doing everything within our power to deliver a better future for our sport and ensuring that boxing remains at heart of the Olympic Movement," Van der Vorst concluded.

By Alex Oller