Uzbekistan joins World Boxing to secure Olympic future

The most successful boxing nation at the Paris Olympics has joined the new governing body that aims to keep the sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Games after years of turmoil outside the ring.

The boxing federation of Uzbekistan, whose fighters won five of the 13 gold medals in Paris this year, is among four new members of World Boxing, said the Switzerland-based body that is trying to win formal recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC has set a deadline of “early 2025” to work with a new governing body replacing the Russian-led International Boxing Association, which was banished from the Olympic movement last year.

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In a years-long dispute with the IBA over finance and integrity concerns, the IOC has overseen boxing tournaments at the past two Olympics in Paris and Tokyo but does not want to organize for a third time in Los Angeles. The dispute intensified in 2018 when boxing officials defied IOC warnings and elected Uzbek businessman Gafur Rahkimov as their leader.

The IOC recently warned boxing federations that stay loyal to the IBA, now led by Russian Umar Kremlev, they will be cut off from funding and liaison with their national Olympic committee — effectively blocking their path to the 2028 Summer Games.

“The addition of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which are two of the world’s leading boxing nations, is a major coup for World Boxing,” the emerging governing body said, which also added Guatemala and Laos to a roster of 55 members.

World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst said the recruits “recognize it is the only way to keep the Olympic dreams of their boxers alive.” The new members joined at a meeting in Pueblo, Colorado which hosted World Boxing’s first global championships, at under-19 level.