The International Boxing Association said it met all the conditions of the IOC to be reinstated, but received no response.

The conflict between the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) continued to develop. The IBA has notified the IOC that all the requirements of the governing sports body of the world, the failure to comply with which led the IBA to the actual disqualification, have been met. Among them is the refusal to renew the contract with the general sponsor of the IBA, Gazprom. However, one should not think about the end of the confrontation between the IOC and the IBA.

The International Boxing Association has notified the IOC of the fulfillment of all the requirements put forward by the IOC to reinstate the IBA. The key ones among them are ensuring managerial and financial stability, as well as resolving the judicial issue (the decisions of referees in amateur boxing often raise questions). According to the agency Reuters referring to its sources, the IBA management sent a letter to the IOC, which refers to the fulfillment of the requirements of the IOC, and also contains claims against the head sports structure.

The letter states that the IBA has done everything it can to eliminate the claims of the IOC regarding aspects of the management of the federation: financial, administrative and sporting.

“The IBA is confident that it meets all of the criteria for a plan to reinstate the federation,” the IBA said in a statement.

However, the IBA complained that, despite all efforts, they do not receive a response from the IOC, which refuses to cooperate.

The letter notes that at the time of the beginning of the federation’s troubles, it was headed by Taiwanese Wu Jingguo, who was also a member of the IOC. So, the authors of the letter believe, “it is absolutely wrong that the IBA bears all responsibility for the actions of an IOC member.” “It is hard to believe that the IOC was not aware of the problems in the international sports federation, especially given that most of them were directly related to the Olympic Games and qualifications for them,” the letter says. It also reports that the federation has solved the most difficult financial problems thanks to cooperation with Gazprom. But at the same time, IBA did not renew the contract with the Russian concern that expired in 2022.

“The IBA has settled all the debt issues that arose under the previous management. Concerns about Gazprom are unfounded, given that the contract with the company expired on December 31, 2022 and was not renewed,” the letter says.

It is also claimed that the association no longer suffers from extreme dependence on one sponsor and has managed to diversify its sources of income. At the same time, the IBA argues that the IOC’s statements that the federation does not share information on income diversification are not true. “IBA continues to work on attracting new sources of funding. In particular, we have significantly increased revenue from the licensing program, the implementation of media and marketing rights, and competitions,” the statement says. The letter also criticizes the IOC’s decision to host the 2024 boxing tournament without the participation of the IBA, which “in itself created a problem in the boxing world.” The letter also says that the IOC acts when it needs to, through the head of the federation (for example, inviting its judges to service boxing tournaments held by the IOC), and also evades negotiations.

Recall that the conflict between the IBA and the IOC has been going on since 2019 (just from the time when Wu Jingguo was in charge of the federation). Then the IOC withdrew recognition of the IBA, which was experiencing a deep administrative and financial crisis. Shortly thereafter, the federation was headed by the Russian Umar Kremlev, and the situation in it began to improve. In particular, largely due to the contract with Gazprom, the issue of debts, which at the moment exceeded $15 million, was resolved, and a number of important reforms were initiated. However, relations between the IBA and the IOC did not improve, but escalated. Especially after the IBA didn’t go along with the IOC.

Last spring, the IOC recommended that international sports federations remove Russians and Belarusians from participation in competitions, which the vast majority of them did. However, back in the fall of 2022, the IBA lifted this ban and allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flag. This led to a boycott of the Tashkent World Championship by almost two dozen countries, including those that play leading roles in boxing, such as the US and the UK, and the establishment of an alternative organization, World Boxing. It is trying to get recognition from the IOC and intends to take the place of the IBA and become the key boxing organization that will be entrusted with hosting the 2028 Olympic Boxing Tournament. At the moment, the status of boxing at the Los Angeles Olympics is under threat – it may be excluded from the Games program.

Alexander Petrov