The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the inclusion of boxing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics games. The decision follows the IOC’s granting of provisional recognition to World Boxing last month, effectively sidelining the International Boxing Association (IBA) and transferring authority to the new governing body. Welcoming the decision, World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst, said this is a significant decision for Olympic boxing and takes the sport one step closer to being restored to the Olympic programme.

Boxing was not included in the 2028 LA Games’ initial sports programme approved by the IOC Session in February 2022 because of the ongoing concerns around the then-international federation, IBA. Following the withdrawal of the IBA’s recognition on June 22, 2023, the inclusion of boxing in the 2028 LA Games sports programme remained on hold.

Last year, the IOC made it clear that national boxing federations had to reach a consensus around a new international federation for boxing to be included in the sports programme of the 2028 Olympic Games. Following an assessment of the various criteria regarding governance and sports integrity, the IOC Executive Board on February 26 decided to provisionally recognise World Boxing, which is currently composed of 84 national federations over the five continents.