From football to snooker via the Olympics, athletics, cycling, cricket and tennis, the major authorities who run sport - and a few minor ones - have been, over the years, deeply embroiled in the less savoury aspects of the games we play and watch, from corruption to cheating. 

Now it is the turn of AIBA, also known as the International Boxing Association, to be drawn into this unseemly quagmire.

It has been reported that the fistic fiefdom of Dr Wu Ching-kuo is up to its neck in a financial mess of its own making.

Actually the mess seems more like a maze with AIBA struggling to find a way out of it.

And I imagine fight fans are struggling to know what to make of it all. I know I am.

But then I admit to being a fiscal philistine.

It is eye-glazing stuff, not sexy or sensational like FIFA's murky machinations or the International Association of Athletics Federations' dealing - or rather mis-dealing - with internal corruption and the Russian drugs scandal.

The story sits more easily in the pages of the Financial Times than Boxing News though The Guardian newspaper has devoted a couple of thousand words to it.

In a nutshell - and it is pretty hard to encapsulate - it is alleged that, having been forced to address claims by a senior figure in the organisation of financial mismanagement, AIBA "risks bankruptcy" and has been drawn into a civil war over demands it immediately pays back millions of dollars in loans and investments it does not have.

The revelation comes amid an increasingly bitter power struggle inside AIBA which has led to the resignations of its treasurer and finance director following claims they were sidelined by President Wu.

Last month a British Executive Committee member was also removed by Wu after raising questions about possible "deficiencies and irregularities" in AIBA’s finance and governance - before being reinstated by Swiss courts last week.

My insidegthegames colleague Nick Butler has revealed how the chaos within AIBA escalated after opponents of Wu attempted to seize control of the body’s headquarters in Lausanne.

Police were called to eject rival factions from the building on the Maison du Sport International, the home of several International Federations in the Swiss city.

The offices were due to re-open in Lausanne today after being closed for a week.

Wu has claimed he has retained control of the world governing body.

His rivals, however, dispute this and insist they hold the power.

An "Interim Management Committee" was set up last week after 13 out of 15 members of AIBA's Executive Committee attempted a vote of no confidence against Wu during a recent meeting in Moscow.

One concern is a letter from the Azerbaijani company Benkons, demanding AIBA immediately repay a $10 million (£7.5 million/€8.5 million) loan from 2011. That is more than $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.6 million) more than AIBA has in its accounts, a source has stated, despite the body having already received the £14 million ($18.5 million/€15.5 million) investment from the International Olympic Committee to see it through to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

One senior AIBA figure told The Guardian: "If Benkons are allowed to foreclose on that debt, we are no position to pay it. We will be bankrupt."

Additionally, AIBA has also been served documents by the Chinese company First Contract International Trade (FCIT) in Hong Kong, demanding it pay back an CHF18.99 million (£14.7 million/$19.5 million/€16.4 million) in investment which it put into AIBA's marketing arm, BMA.

In recent letters, the FCIT chairman, Chinese businessman Di Wu - no relation - accuses AIBA of "mismanagement" and "greatly infringing on my rights".

It seems it's a question of "who's Wu" as well as what's what in this complex saga.

Last month Terry Smith, the Welsh AIBA Executive Committee member who had written to President Wu and other senior members of AIBA to demand answers to some of the concerns raised, was arbitrarily axed.

In a letter in June, Smith had urged Wu to clarify a number of issues, saying: "The content of the finance director's letter to Executive Committee members have given me great concern for the future of AIBA because it implies there may be serious deficiencies or irregularities in finance and governance."

Wu responded by saying a full financial report would be provided to Executive Committee members and he had commissioned a review to improve AIBA's corporate governance.

Shortly afterwards Smith was removed from AIBA's Executive Committee - with Wu claiming it was because he was no longer an honorary member of Welsh Boxing. Others, however, believe Wu wanted to see a vocal critic out of the way. Smith immediately took AIBA to a Swiss court and was able to overturn the decision.

It was not the first time Dr Wu's authority had been challenged by a Brit, or that a disturbing controversy had flared on his watch.

In 2011 Paul King, a former chief executive of the English Boxing Amateur Association and an AIBA Council member, incurred the wrath of the world governing body by mounting an unsuccessful campaign against Wu for the Presidency and attempting to postpone the AIBA Congress.

King was suspended for two years after allegedly bringing the sport into disrepute but had this ban lifted on appeal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered AIBA, whose Disciplinary Commission imposed the ban, to pay King CHF2,000 (£1,500/$2,066/€1,700) as "contribution towards the expenses he has incurred in connection with these arbitration proceedings".

Also in 2011, the BBC made allegations, which were strongly denied by AIBA, that Azerbaijan was promised two gold medals at the Olympics in exchange for a £5.8 million ($7.6 million/€6.4 million) loan to AIBA's World Series Boxing (WSB).

Wu, who has repeatedly claimed that he has ushered in a new transparent era for boxing, said the allegations were "totally untrue", "ludicrous" and "totally impossible".

But he said AIBA had a "zero tolerance" policy to corruption and launched an investigation which eventually reported that the claims were groundless.

Then there was the controversy at the Rio Olympics last year when AIBA sent home six judges and referees amid ongoing claims of wider corruption in the tournament.

The Irish boxer Michael Conlan railed against AIBA on live television, declaring: "They’re f****** cheats. They’re known for being cheats. Amateur boxing stinks from the core right to the top."

AIBA fined him £10,000 ($13,000/€11,000) for his outburst but he subsequently turned pro.

There is certainly much to admire in what Dr Wu has done for what used to be amateur boxing, cleansing it of the corruption bequeathed by his dodgy predecessor.

Whatever Dr Wu, architect of the WSB, AIBA Pro Boxing and the introduction of female boxers and professionals - of sorts - into the Olympics may be accused of, lack of ambition is not on that agenda.

But has the Taiwanese-born, English-educated construction mogul who has led AIBA for 11 years now overreached himself in his relentless quest to become the overlord of boxing in all its forms?

Has he taken his eye off the punchball in pursuit of that impossible dream of global domination instead of keeping AIBA's financial house in order?

He insists not.

A man of charm and intelligence, he may have power and influence within his own realm but he lacks the street smartness of those who orchestrate the recognised professional side of the game.

In the meantime, AIBA obviously has a bitter internal fight on its hands, with its resilient champion on the back foot. 

But I'd bet on him to box his way off the ropes.