At the meeting in Yerevan, IBA members voted controversially against holding a new election for President and instead supported Umar Kremlev for a four-year term, a decision which further plunged boxing’s future in the Olympic Games into doubt.

The Russian had been re-elected at an Extraordinary Congress in Istanbul in May after van der Vorst was barred from running against him.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the next month that van der Vorst should have been eligible to run against Kremlev, but the IBA members still decided not to hold a new election in Armenia's capital.

Delegates cast 106 votes against holding an election, with 36 votes for, and four abstaining out of 146 eligible National Federations.

Of the countries eligible to vote, 50 were from Africa.

"Earlier, the opposing party in Africa had organised a Special Congress and bound all African countries to it with envelopes with money for boxing equipment," van der Vorst claimed in an interview with Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant.

"After that conference, some African officials were stopped at the border because they were carrying too much cash.

"I myself received calls from African federation chairmen who said: 'You have a good story, but what are you going to pay me?'

"That's a match you don't want to and can't win."

Van der Vorst, President of the Dutch Boxing Federation, claimed that he knew he would not be able to win in Yerevan and that he feared for his personal safety.

"So, I went - the Americans had arranged three bodyguards for me - and Yerevan, as expected, became a complete mockery," he told de Volkskrant.

"For example, because I was a candidate, I was not entitled to vote and was, therefore, not allowed to do anything, not give a presentation, answer questions, nothing.

"I was completely silenced.

"I was visited the night before by a deputy from a former Soviet country who said: 'We are with you, but we are not allowed to vote for you.

"'Tomorrow the voting devices will fail and then you will have to demand paper voting.'

"I didn't get the chance.

"But he was right: the mood started, and the boxes fell out.

"Power failure.

"It lasted for 45 minutes and then suddenly there were 26 more voting countries in the room.

"Of course, I lost.

"We showed our teeth.

"That's all we could do."

Van der Vorst is head of the Common Cause Alliance, whose members include Australia, Canada, England, Ireland and the United States and who committed to overseeing change at IBA to ensure its future in the Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) withdrew IBA’s right to organise the boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020 and has extended that suspension to Paris 2024.

As it stands, the sport is currently not on the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028 and last month was even threatened with being removed from next year’s Games in the French capital.

"This year is crucial," van der Vorst told de Volkskrant.

"The IOC has said that it will clarify the Olympic licence of the current world boxing federation in early 2023.

"Just like in Tokyo in 2021, the IOC will organise the Olympic boxing tournament in 2024, but they will not do it three times in a row.

"The Olympic boxing tournament is not on the programme for 2028.

"There must be a boxing federation licenced to organise that in Los Angeles."

There is growing belief that the IOC will soon withdraw all support for IBA and instead back a rival federation if it is set up.

"There is only room for that when the IOC officially withdraws Olympic recognition from the current world boxing federation," van der Vorst told de Volkskrant.

"If that happens, and my supporters want it, I am prepared to take the lead in keeping boxing Olympic.

"That's how I feel: the future of this sport is partly in my hands."

Kremlev has been able to wipe out IBA’s debts thanks to a $50 million (£40 million/€46 million) sponsorship deal with Russian Government majority state-owned energy company Gazprom.

"I get a lot of support from Western countries in particular," van der Vorst said.

"Saving the sport of boxing is intensive and requires many sacrifices from me and my supporters in time and energy.

"And money.

"That Russian [Kremlev] has an ATM at The Kremlin, but Government leaders such as [Dutch Prime Minister] Mark Rutte can already see us coming.

"I myself receive financial support from the Dutch Boxing Association and NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation) and I am very grateful for that, but it is not enough.

"I'm also putting money of my own into this fight.

"It's certainly worth it, because boxing should be in the Olympics."

The IBA, however, dismissed van der Vorst’s allegations and accused him of failing to have not been elected President of IBA or the European Boxing Confederation (EUBC).

He lost the EUBC election in April last year to Greece's Ioannis Filippatos by 25 votes to 22.

"How does IBA respond to vague accusations and baseless attacks on our organisation from within?" an IBA spokesman told insidethegames.

"By reiterating the facts regarding our governance reforms and questioning the motive of Mr. van der Vorst and the unidentified sources of these wild accusations of bribery and threats.

"It is very simple, he cannot handle losing and refuses to do so with any dignity.

"This was shown with the EUBC loss and continues with the IBA loss.

"We strongly encourage him to focus on leading his National Federation rather than looking for a smoking gun that does not exist.

"The IBA will continue to take all necessary actions to protect its members, and most importantly, our African members subjected to his slander."