IOC statement on the International Boxing Association (IBA)

The IOC has taken note of the decision by the International Boxing Association (IBA) with regard to prize money. As always with the IBA, it is unclear where the money is coming from. This total lack of financial transparency was exactly one of the reasons why the IOC withdrew its recognition of the IBA. The IBA was not prepared to transparently explain the sources of its financing or to explain its full financial dependency, at the time, on a single state-owned company, Gazprom.

Due to the suspension and the subsequent withdrawal of recognition by the IOC in 2023, the IBA had no involvement in either the qualification for or the organisation of the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and is not involved for Paris 2024, either. The qualifications and the Olympic tournaments were and are being organised by boxing units set up by the IOC, to protect the athletes, the National Boxing Federations and their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

For all these reasons, boxing is currently not on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28. The IOC has made it very clear that it cannot again organise such Olympic boxing competitions.

In order to remedy this, Olympic boxing needs to be organised by a credible, well-governed International Federation. It is therefore already clear that any boxer whose National Federation adheres to the IBA will not be able to participate in the Olympic Games LA28. The respective NOC will have to exclude such a National Boxing Federation from its membership.