IBA's flagship men's and women's events this year have been shrouded by boycotts from nations unhappy at the direction of the governing body under Russian President Umar Kremlev and the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian boxers to compete under their own flags.

Eleven countries boycotted the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in India's capital New Delhi last month.

However, Kremlev argued that registration figures for the men's event were encouraging.

"It’s a positive signal and a testimony of the rapid development of our sport worldwide that so many nations are sending their boxers to Uzbekistan," he said.

"I reiterate that IBA’s main goal is to create opportunities for all of our boxers, so they can perform and show their best at the international level.

"IBA is successfully doing that today, giving an example of how an International Federation should treat their athletes.

"We are looking forward to delivering an unforgettable event in Tashkent in close cooperation with the Uzbekistan Boxing Federation."

The registration period has been extended to Friday (April 14).

Seven defending champions are among those registered across the 13 weight categories.

They are France's Sofiane Oumiha at lightweight, Japan's Tomoya Tsuboi and Sewon Okazawa at bantamweight and welterweight respectively, Azerbaijan's Loren Alfonso at cruiserweight, Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan at flyweight and Cuba's Yoenlis Hernández and Julio César La Cruz at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.

Gold medallists are in line to receive $200,000 (£161,000/€182,000), silver medallists $100,000 (£81,000/€91,000) and bronze medallists $50,000 (£40,000/€45,000) as part of a doubled total prize pool of $2.5 million (£2 million/€2.3 million).

However, Britain announced earlier this week it would boycott the Men's World Championships, mirroring the stance it took for the Women's World Championships.

Countries including the United States, Ireland, Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand had already committed to shunning the Men's World Championships.

The IBA has pledged financial support to boxers from boycotting nations to enable them to take part at its World Championships.

Boxing New Zealand President Steve Hartley revealed before the Women's World Championships that a competition is due to be held in The Netherlands later this year as an alternative to the Men’s World Championships.

New Zealand is one of the member countries of the loosely-formed Common Cause Alliance (CCA), led by Dutch Boxing Federation President and former IBA Presidential challenger Boris van der Vorst.

The CCA was created seeking to prioritise boxing's presence at the Olympic Games, which is in doubt from Los Angeles 2028 and not guaranteed for Paris 2024 because of a row over technical officials.

However, its leading members appear to have scaled back their campaigning in public, with van der Vorst not commenting on social media since February.

Kremlev's controversial re-election at the expense of van der Vorst last year added to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) concerns with governance at the IBA.

The governing body, formerly AIBA, has been suspended since 2019 and has been stripped of its right to organise the Olympic boxing tournament for the second consecutive Games at Paris 2024.

Boxing has been left off the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028, and the IOC warned that the IBA's threats over using its judges and referees for Paris 2024 qualifiers and the Olympics would have "quite some consequences".

The IBA Men's World Championships is scheduled for May 1 to 14 at the Humo Arena in Tashkent.