Will boxing be at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles?

It was the question that loomed large over the competition at Paris 2024: Will boxing still be on the schedule when they light the Olympic torch in Los Angeles in four years’ time?

The simple answer is that, right now, nobody really knows. Since its introduction to the Olympic program in 1904, boxing has been a part of every Games, except for the 1912 Olympics in Sweden, where the sport was illegal at the time.

As it stands, however, boxing is not on the program for 2028 and there is a very real chance that no boxing will take place at an Olympics for the first time in over a century. But don’t panic just yet, there is still hope and the International Olympic Committee – or IOC – have set a deadline of 2025 to make their decision.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Until Rio 2016, Boxing at the Olympic Games had been organised by the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), who are now known as the International Boxing Association (IBA).

However, the IOC had grown increasingly concerned by what at the time were described as governance issues and also allegations of corruption within the organisation. So, with the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo fast approaching, the IOC decided to task the auditing company Deloitte to determine whether AIBA were fit for purpose.

The IOC formed an inquiry committee in November 2018 and had initially set a deadline of February 2019 for AIBA to respond to the 41 questions about their organisation that were sent to them.

“The International Olympic Committee has requested Deloitte to do a report on the AIBA International Boxing Association following their Executive Board decision to set up an Ad Hoc Inquiry Committee related to the Association,” a statement said. 

“AIBA has received from the Inquiry Committee a request with 41 questions from Deloitte focusing primarily on finances but as well on governance, ethics, refereeing and judging and anti-doping.”

However, by May 2019, the IOC stripped AIBA of their right to host the boxing tournament in Tokyo 2020. Instead thet set up a taskforce, headed by Morinari Watanabe, who was president of the International Gymnastics Federation, to oversee the competition in Japan.

The decision was made after the six month investigation had flagged multiple concerns, and with a little over a year until Tokyo, the IOC had no choice but to act.

Then, in 2023, a year out from Paris, the IOC decided to permanently expel IBA from the Olympic movement after an historic vote. Of the 80 voting members, 69 voted to expel IBA, with one vote against and 10 abstentions, meaning for the first time in 129, the IOC permanently banned a governing body.

Despite this, boxing was still included at Paris in 2024 with another taskforce in charge of the competition but the IOC made no secret that this would be the last Games at which they would allow this to happen.

SO WHAT NOW?

The key point here is the IOC have regularly reemphasised their stance that they want boxing at the 2028 Games. At a press conference midway through Paris 2024, a spokesman for the IOC said that the sport’s ‘social aspect’, the way in which it often makes an impact in deprived areas, was important to the Olympic movement.

However, they have also reiterated the need for a new international federation to arrange the competition in Los Angeles as they have decided that another ‘taskforce’ will not be handed the reins this time.

As such, they have not included it in the programme but will do if an international federation can prove they are capable of handling the job. It’s a huge job but the good news is that the newly formed World Boxing reckon they are up to the task and, crucially, they insist they have the backing of the IOC.

Their president Boris van der Vorst failed in his attempt to take over and clean up IBA in 2022. A day before the 2022 election was set to take place, Dutchman Van der Vorst was declared ineligible to stand as a candidate. Then, on May 14, Umar Kremlev was elected, unopposed, for a full four-year term as President. Within a month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Van der Vorst should have been eligible to stand.

Van der Vorst is now president at World Boxing and released a statement on Monday only a few hours after a closing ceremony in France, outlining his federation’s position. It sounds like a positive one for those hoping to see boxing in Los Angeles.

“Crucially World Boxing has established relations with the IOC, following a meeting in May 2024, and World Boxing has developed a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored to the programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028,” he said. 

“This pathway is dependent upon national federations, and the IOC has made it clear that any country that wants to see their boxers have the opportunity to compete at a future Olympic Games needs to take immediate steps to join World Boxing.

“This is the only course of action that will ensure that Paris 2024 is not the last time we see boxing at the Olympic Games. We cannot allow boxing to exit the Olympic stage, and I invite every national federation that cares about their boxers and the future of the sport to take immediate steps to join World Boxing now and work with us to deliver a better future for the sport and ensure that boxing continues to remain at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”

Before the Games started, 37 member national federations, including big hitters like Great Britain, had already joined World Boxing. The organisation also revealed that a number of national federations submitted completed membership applications during Paris 2024 itself.

“I am very confident that we will soon have more than 50 members,” Van der Vorst said. “As the leaders of many national federations have assured me that they will apply to join World Boxing once this tournament is completed.”

However, some amateur boxing powerhouse nations like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Cuba have still not signed up. What this means for the chances of World Boxing succeeding in their mission of taking over in time for Los Angeles is still unclear but the reality is there is still a lot of work to do.

It has been suggested that the gender storm involving Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting has only served to add to the question marks hanging over boxing at the Games but the reality is the situation was stark already. There is a year to save the sport’s place at the Olympics and, with a year to go, this is a decision that will go to the judges.