'Significant step' taken in boxing's bid for Olympic survival amid bitter feud

The International Olympic Committee has taken a key step toward retaining boxing on the program for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 by recognising a new governing body.

The IOC board has granted provisional recognition to World Boxing, a group founded in 2023 as a breakaway from the long-established but troubled International Boxing Association.

The IOC said World Boxing showed 62 per cent of boxers from the Paris Olympics were affiliated with its members.

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The IOC also said World Boxing had "demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation to be compliant with the appropriate standards".

Kazakhstani boxing great Gennady Golovkin, who heads the commission tasked with establishing World Boxing as a credible body to run Olympic bouts, said it was a pivotal moment but indicated a great amount of work remained.

“Receiving provisional Olympic recognition from the IOC is an important achievement and demonstrates that our sport is on the right path," Golovkin said.

"This decision brings us one step closer to our main goal — preserving boxing at the Olympic Games."

Boxing Australia welcomed the IOC's decision to grant World Boxing provisional recognition, describing it as "a crucial step in securing the sport's future within the Olympic movement".

Australia's Caitlin Parker, who won bronze at the Paris Games, said it marked "an exciting milestone for boxing".

"It restores hope for current and future athletes aspiring to compete at the Olympics," added Parker, who also contested the Tokyo Olympics.

"The IOC's decision to recognise World Boxing is a significant step forward and keeps the dream alive for the sport."

The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 following long-running disputes over governance, its finances and the integrity of bouts and judging, and took the rare step of banishing it from the Olympic movement entirely in 2023, shortly after the World Boxing breakaway.

The IOC organised the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and at the Paris Games but said it needed a new partner in time for 2028.

Since it was suspended, the IBA and its Russian president, Umar Kremlev, have continued to feud with the IOC, particularly over the rules on eligibility for women's boxing at the Paris Olympics.

Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting both won gold in Paris while caught up in gender-eligibility controversies.

Wide World of Sports was ringside at North Paris Arena for Khelif's Olympic quarter-final against Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori, after which the Algerian declared "I am a female, and I will remain a female" amid wild animosity and passion.

The IBA disqualified both Khelif and Lin from the 2023 world championships due to what the governing body claimed were failed gender-eligibility tests, but did not publish the results.

The IOC then ruled that Khelif and Lin were allowed to compete in Paris, igniting ferocious debate that intensified with each win.

The IBA said this month it planned to file criminal complaints against the IOC in the United States, France and Switzerland.