Olympic chiefs attacked over boxing 'political games'

The International Boxing Association has not been involved in Olympic boxing since being stripped of the role in 2019

Olympic chiefs have been accused of "outrageous political games" by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after urging countries to end links with the Russian-led body.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IBA have been at loggerheads for years, with the IOC having concerns about the IBA's finances and ethics.

It stripped the Russian-led IBA of its status as the sport's world governing body in June 2023, after initially suspending it in 2019.

And boxing at the past two editions of the Olympic Games was organised by the IOC after previously being run by the IBA.

The IOC sent a letter to national Olympic committees (NOCs) on 30 September calling for them to end relationships with IBA-affiliated boxing federations.

The letter reminds NOCs that "boxing is no longer considered as a sport on the programme of the Olympic Games".

It says they should "no longer affiliate, or entertain any institutional relationship with, national boxing federations that are still affiliated to IBA" but invited them to forge relationships with federations linked to a new international boxing body.

The IBA said the letter had put "unprecedented pressure" on national federations and was "deeply disappointing and on the verge of sporting blackmail".

It added the letter was "a testament to the IOC's outrageous political games" and accused the IOC leadership of wanting "to damage boxing".

The IBA says it has 192 members, six provisional members and one suspended national federation, while 14 national federations have left.

Of those, some have joined a new organisation called World Boxing, which was formed last year following what it called "persistent issues" with the IBA, which it added had put the sport's Olympic future in doubt.

The body, which currently has 44 members, last week appointed former-middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin as the chair of its new Olympic Commission, tasked with gaining recognition from the IOC as the sport's new governing body.

The IOC wants national boxing federations and national Olympic committees to find a replacement for the IBA by 2025 at the latest for boxing to stay on the Olympic programme.

Will boxing be at the Olympic Games?

As it stands, boxing is not on the list of sports to feature at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Games and in Paris this summer were organised by the IOC.

However, the IBA believes it can still lead the sport at future Games.

The IOC will be electing a new president next year to replace Thomas Bach, and the IBA says it wants to work with a new leadership team at the Olympic body.

"The IBA is looking forward to a dialogue with the new leadership of the IOC to re-establish the relationships and find a common ground," a spokesperson told BBC Sport.

"We are confident that boxing has its place in the Olympic program historically, both from fans and commercial perspectives. An open dialogue between the parties, which we have always requested and have never received, could resolve all possible obstacles."

World Boxing was set up primarily to keep boxing in the Olympic Games, and when appointed last week Golovkin said he would make that his "top priority".

The IOC has always maintained it wants boxing to be in the Olympics.

"We would love to see boxing, we want to see boxing on the programme in LA," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference during the Paris Games.

"For the sport of boxing to return to the Olympic programme, the National Boxing Federations have to organise themselves in a transparent and credible International Federation that complies with the principles of good governance and respects all requirements that the IOC puts on an Olympic International Federation," a spokesperson told BBC Sport.