Following the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Executive Board meeting in Lausanne this week, the International Boxing Association (IBA) commented on the IOC's decision. The IOC insisted on maintaining the exclusion of the IBA as the governing body of boxing and announced: "Unless there is a new body responsible for the governance of this sport, working in partnership with the IOC, we will not be able to have boxing in the LA2028 programme". 

The IOC reiterated that "the IBA will not be involved in any way if boxing is part of the LA28 Olympic Games". In this regard, the IBA stated that it "strongly condemns Thomas Bach, Kit McConnell, Nenad Lalovic and Pâquerette Girard Zappelli for continuing to place themselves above the world of sport in pursuit of their own pernicious and politicised ambitions. "

The IBA calls on the IOC to "reflect and understand its continuing mistakes and draw the appropriate conclusions". According to the IBA, the IOC is "once again trying to destroy the family of sport and violating all the rules of clear democracy and transparency."

The organisation says the IOC is creating "division, uncertainty and instability" and forcing athletes to become "enslaved".  The IBA also accuses the IOC of "violating the principles of its own Olympic Charter, violating freedom and imposing its own fictitious rules."

Boxing is in a situation of uncertainty. Since the IBA was expelled by the IOC in April 2023, there has been no governing body for boxing. The IOC itself has organised the qualifying tournaments for Paris 2024 and the Olympic Games themselves. The situation is even more precarious after the Paris 2024 Games. In its statement, the IBA points to the organisation that was created at the time of its exclusion in 2023, World Boxing, which the IBA says "does not have the critical mass or financial support to survive".

The organisation pointed to the courts as the means of resolving the situation: "With all due respect, the courts will decide the fate of this group. The IBA stands firm against the sacrificial intentions aimed at the Olympic future of boxing," said IBA President Umar Kremlev. The statement also insists that "the decissions of the IOC are politicised."

At the moment there seems to be no solution and boxing remains in a state of emergency. The supposed solution lies in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This is where the IBA's appeal against the recommendation to remove the IBA from the governance of boxing will be heard.

The IBA continued its statement with accusations against the IOC, this time suggesting that it was "determined to sacrifice boxing in order to ruin the IBA." In conclusion, the organisation's president Kremlev was adamant. "To prove that we are right, we will use all possible legal methods, unlike the IOC."