Will boxing be in the 2028 Olympics is the question dominating internal discussions within the International Boxing Association, who have now turned to United States president Donald Trump for help.
Boxing Olympics 2028: What We Know So Far
Boxing‘s chief governing body are fighting a battle to have the sport included in the 2028 Olympic Games, set to take place in Los Angeles.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2019 due to concerns over everything from referring and judging to ethics and poor financing.
The Russian-led IBA formerly ran the Olympic boxing programme until it was stripped of its role – a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration in April of last year.
The IOC took it upon themselves to organise boxing events at b0th the Tokyo and Paris Olympics Games in 2020 and 2024 respectively.
Will Boxing Be In the 2028 Olympics?
The IOC currently has no plans to take up the mantle of organising boxing for a third consecutive summer Olympics.
However, no final decision has been made as to whether it will appear in the schedule in Los Angeles.
The hope is that a new international federation will be able to demonstrate their suitability for organising. World Boxing is perhaps the likeliest to enter the frame, and has already reached 60 members.
However, the IBA have not given up hope of re-establishing themselves as Olympic boxing organisers, and they have even gone as far as enlisting Donald Trump – who took office as president of the United States for the second time this month – to help them.
“They [IOC] have announced in the last 12 months that boxing will not be part of the Olympic program for LA28; it would be very much appreciated if your team could look in to this situation,” read a latter addressed to president Trump from the IBA.
The letter continued, saying: “We sincerely hope that boxing will be part of the celebrations in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and will indeed become a great showcase of genuine love to the sport from the American nation and fans worldwide.”
Trump will be president when the Olympics returns to the USA for the first time since Atlanta 1996.
The US president knows more than most about what it takes to promote boxing, having ventured into the sport as a promoter in the early 1990’s.
