Written by Matt Bozeat
World boxers have called for more countries to join them as they fight to keep boxing at the Olympic Games.
World Boxing held its first meeting with the International Olympic Committee this week.
Representatives met in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday at the IOC's Olympic House headquarters.
As it stands, boxing is not part of the 2028 Olympics program in Los Angeles.
The IOC planned to hold the qualifiers for this summer's Games in Paris after shutting down the IBA, but insisted this would not continue and a new International Federation was needed to continue the sport.
World Boxing was launched last April and since then they have played three World Cup matches in Germany, England and the United States and membership has been growing steadily.
At a press conference last month, World Boxing revealed that it has 28 members and General Secretary Simon Toulson said: “We are talking to 25-30 countries and there is another group of countries that are following them.”
President Boris van der Vorst also told the media that World Boxing is in a position to meet with the IOC to discuss the future of the sport and their first meeting was held this week.
The IOC said the new International Federation should be in place “by early 2025.”
During the meeting, the IOC emphasized that the new International Federation needs the support of the global organization of National Federations and must show evidence of proper governance and leadership of the sport if it is considering returning boxing to the 2028 Olympic program.
Van der Vorst said after the meeting: “It is clearly important that those boxing countries that are interested in competing in the Olympic Games in the future must immediately show their intention and commitment to the Olympic Games by joining World Boxing and keeping boxing in the Olympic Games. .
Besides, losing the Olympic boxing position would be our worst nightmare.”
At the press conference, it was announced that Ukraine, a country with a strong Olympic boxing tradition, has not applied to join World Boxing, while Mongolia and the Philippines are the only Asian member countries at the moment and Nigeria the only African country.
Toulson stressed that Asian and African countries are considering their requests.
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