The IBA says it has secured its budget for the "upcoming four-year cycle" ©IBA

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has announced that it has secured a budget for the "upcoming four-year cycle", although it is unclear where the money is coming from.

The under-fire International Federation, headed by Russian Umar Kremlev, said the new budget will help with all "ambitious projects planned", including "events portfolio, prize money fund, Financial Support Program (FSP) and various development initiatives".

Earlier this year, the governing body said that its sponsorship with Russia's state energy supplier Gazprom had ended.

The agreement with Gazprom has been a cause of displeasure for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the situation worsened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Finance was one of the issues cited by the IOC as the IBA was expelled in June, a decision that has been appealed by the latter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Earlier this year, the governing body said that its sponsorship with Russia's state energy supplier Gazprom had ended ©IBA
Earlier this year, the governing body said that its sponsorship with Russia's state energy supplier Gazprom had ended ©IBA

The IBA was on the verge of "financial ruin" under the leadership of former President CK Wu, when the governing body was called the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA).

The boxing governing body has claimed in the past that sponsorship with Gazprom "closed a significant debt accumulated by the CK Wu regime".

In its statement announcing the budget, the IBA issued a warning to National Federations that are considering quitting IBA to join rival body World Boxing, describing it as "a paper-based entity".

World Boxing was formed in April, and on August 9, it announced six official members - USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing, and the Dutch Boxing Federation (NBB).

Earlier this week, the NBB clarified to insidethegames that "it had not yet left the organisation to join World Boxing,", describing the international situation as "very complex."

Since then, Boxing Canada has announced its decision to join the body described by IBA as a "rogue organisation".

"That said, some National Federations are left in limbo and have no clue about their future following leaving IBA to join a 'rival' boxing body that has been conceived to oppose the IBA in governing boxing internationally," the IBA statement read.

IBA said that the new budget will help with all
IBA said that the new budget will help with all "its ambitious projects planned" ©IBA

"This paper-based entity confuses the National Federations that are simply misled by a group of individuals professing to be a full-scale organisation and implying that they have official recognition as an International Federation - this is merely an informality which is simply not the truth."

The statement goes on to explain the process to become a recognised International Federation.

"In reality, to become a recognised International Federation (IF), an entity should undergo a rigorous process with many parties and international stakeholders involved, which takes at least several years and can take up to five years if there exist rivalry issues between the SportAccord recognised IF and the applying organisation - in this case, World Boxing.

"Thus, the IOC cannot simply recognise a new federation if there is another federation governing the same sport even if it does not have Olympic status, and the IOC will wait for the bodies to agree amongst themselves and if this does not happen, it will ultimately be decided by the courts."

The IBA ignored insidethegames request for a comment.