IOC Executive Board puts boxing forward to the IOC Session for inclusion at LA28

17 March 2025 – The inclusion of boxing on the sports programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) has been proposed by the Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the 144^th IOC Session, which will meet this week in Costa Navarino, Greece.

The decision from the IOC EB follows the recommendation made by the Olympic Programme Commission and the provisional recognition granted in February 2025 by the IOC EB to World Boxing as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level.

The pathway to inclusion

Boxing was not included on the LA28 initial sports programme approved by the IOC Session in February 2022 because of the then-ongoing concerns around the then-International Federation, the International Boxing Association (IBA). Following the withdrawal of the IBA’s recognition on 22 June 2023, the inclusion of boxing on the LA28 sports programme remained on hold.

The Paris 2024 boxing competition and its qualifying tournaments were organised under the authority of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, an ad hoc task force created by the IOC EB. This decision was taken in order to protect athlete participation at the Olympic Games and deliver a clear, fair and transparent pathway for boxers to qualify, ensuring a fair and just competition.

At Paris 2024, 68 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were represented in the boxing competition, with the IOC Refugee Olympic Team and 31 different NOCs medalling across the 13 events. This was the highest ratio of competing NOCs to medal in one sport at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Provisional recognition of World Boxing

Last year, the IOC made it clear that National Boxing Federations had to reach a consensus around a new International Federation in order for boxing to be included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.

Following an assessment of the various criteria regarding governance and sports integrity, the IOC EB decided on 26 February to provisionally recognise World Boxing, which is currently composed of 84 National Federations over the five continents.