Boxing’s status as an Olympic sport is in doubt going forward after the International Olympic Committee said on Monday that it would be “on hold” for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Every Olympics since 1920 have included boxing, and the Paris Games will continue this tradition.
However, the International Boxing Association was essentially banned from the Olympic movement in June as a result of a bitter dispute between the Games’ organisers and its Russian president, Umar Kremlev.
Concerns about the reliability of IBA-sanctioned events as well as the boxing governing body’s finances and governance led the IOC executive board to revoke recognition.
The IOC does not recognise any other regulating organisation for boxing.
At its meeting on Monday in Mumbai, the IOC approved the schedule for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
However, according to the IOC, the executive board decided “any decision regarding the inclusion of boxing on the LA28 sports programme is put on hold” because it had not yet recognised another governing body for Olympic boxing.
It further stated: “So there was no discussion of this by the IOC session.”
In an interview with reporters in Mumbai on Monday, LA 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman said: “Boxing has a great history in the Olympics, has a great history in America as a lineage of boxing champions. So we’d love to see boxing on the programme.
“But obviously it’s a decision that’s going to be taken by the IOC’s membership, given the complexities that exist with the federation. We’re hopeful, but all we can do is wait for the answer.”
Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, had previously stated last week “We want boxing on the programme.
“We have no problem, with boxing or boxers — we have a problem with the governing body.”