WBC President highlights IOC recognition

World Boxing Council (WBC) President Mauricio Sulaimán declared this weekend that "the organisation has met the necessary requirements to oversee the competition and ensure the future of amateur boxing" and pledged to support for its inclusion at LA 2028.

The past, present and future of the sport on the road to the Olympics has become something of a saga. Whether it turns out to be a thriller or a tragicomedy remains to be seen. The outcome could be decided as early as next month, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set March as the deadline for deciding whether to recognise a governing body.

Boxing has been part of the Olympic Games since 1904 (with the exception of 1912). However, it is not yet part of the LA 2028 programme due to the lack of a recognised governing body. This weekend, the president of the World Boxing Council (WBC), Sulaimán, went one step further and, according to the Boxing portal, declared that the sport will indeed be part of the Olympic programme.

Sulaimán claimed that World Boxing had met all the necessary requirements and declared that his organisation "will do everything possible to help World Boxing achieve what now appears to be an achievable goal".

President of WBC, Mauricio Sulaimán. GETTY IMAGES

"The great news is that World Boxing, the International Boxing Federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee, already has the necessary national affiliations to be officially recognised as the governing body responsible for overseeing our sport and ensuring its continued presence in the Olympic Games. Its participation in Los Angeles 2028 is confirmed," said Sulaimán, as quoted by Boxing.

Sulaimán's comments have yet to be officially confirmed by the IOC or World Boxing. If confirmed, they would bring clarity to the uncertainty that has hung over boxing for several years since the IOC withdrew recognition from the International Boxing Association (IBA) after decades as the sport's global governing body. However, no official decision has yet been made.

The IOC cited the IBA's failure to implement necessary reforms in governance and financial management as the reason for its decision. In response, the IBA has continued to defend itself and is seeking legal recourse to challenge the decision. The IOC's warning that IBA-affiliated national boxing federations risked being banned from the Olympics created uncertainty for many federations and triggered a wave of change within the sport.

IOC President Thomas Bach has put pressure on national boxing federations, a stance the IBA has publicly criticised. March will also see a change in IOC leadership, as Bach has announced that he will not seek re-election. This transition could prove crucial in determining whether boxing is reinstated in the LA 2028 Olympic programme.

"It is in the hands of the national boxing federations to decide whether they want their athletes to have the opportunity to win Olympic medals or not," Bach said at a press conference in December. "We are monitoring the situation and, when the time comes, we will assess whether there is a suitable international federation to receive recognition or provisional recognition, as we would do with any other organisation," Bach explained at the time. The decision has been awaited ever since.

The IBA continues to defend its position and recently sent an open letter to US President Donald Trump, requesting his intervention in investigating certain IOC practices. Trump supported the IBA’s decision to ban transgender female boxers from the 2024 World Championships—an issue that later escalated when both athletes were allowed to compete in Paris 2024, where they won gold medals: Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting. One of Trump’s first actions upon returning to the White House was to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The battle between the IBA and World Boxing for IOC recognition continues, with both organisations vying for the rightto organise the Olympic qualifiers and the boxing tournament at LA 2028. In the meantime, Sulaimán reaffirmed his commitment to World Boxing.

"We will continue to work unconditionally and with full commitment to support World Boxing, and we are confident that boxing will return to its golden era, where the Olympics will continue to attract large audiences and produce stars for professional boxing," he concluded.