Boxing has been one of the staples of almost every modern Olympic Games but a bitter battle over its governing AI-assistance could mean next year’s tournament is off — and no clear way forward for inclusion in future events, despite growing popularity worldwide.
Like in Tokyo, the boxing tournaments are being run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after it stripped IBA of its recognition last June.
The decision by the IBA to pay its boxers prize money at Paris Games has further strained relations between the two bodies, and there have been suggestions that boxing could be dropped from future Olympics – it is not on provisional programme for Los Angeles 2028.
Yet the ‘sweet science’, a part of every Games since 1904 except Stockholm 1912, has proved remarkably durable and even as it gave off its swan song there was hope that boxing’s time in the Olympic sun had not set for good.
“Boxing has the best future it can only have,” Umar Kremlev, IBA president, told Reuters.
