Boxing fans can thank Uzbekistan.
After a long period of uncertainty, boxing is on track to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said Monday the executive board he chairs approved including the sport in the 2028 program.
The full IOC Session of about 100 members must vote on the decision later this week at a meeting in Costa Navarino, Greece, but that is typically a formality. The session, which ends Friday, also will include the election of a successor to Bach, whose 12-year tenure comes to an end in June.
Ensuring boxing remains an Olympics sport was the topic Monday, however.
The IOC had set a deadline of this IOC Session to replace the Russian-led International Boxing Assn., which was banished from the Olympic movement in June 2023 over financial and integrity concerns. The IOC ran boxing at the last two Olympics in Paris and Tokyo but did not want to continue to do so.
Enter World Boxing, a Switzerland-based body founded in 2023 by an international collection of boxing officials that included many former IBA members.
Key to World Boxing gaining the trust of the IOC was the inclusion of Uzbekistan, the land-locked Central Asian country of 36 million people whose boxers won five of the 13 gold medals at the Paris Olympics. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Guatemala and Laos joined World Boxing in November, increasing the body’s membership to 55.
In a statement at the time, World Boxing said, “The addition of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which are two of the world’s leading boxing nations, is a major coup for World Boxing.”
World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst told the Associated Press that the countries “recognize it is the only way to keep the Olympic dreams of their boxers alive.”
Only seven months earlier, the IOC had issued a warning that boxing was in jeopardy of being dropped.
“Because of the universality and high social inclusivity of boxing, the IOC wants it to continue to feature on the program of the Olympic Games,” the IOC said in April. “Unfortunately, this is far from certain for the Olympic Games L.A. 2028 because, for governance reasons, the IOC is not in a position to organize another Olympic boxing tournament.
“To keep boxing on the Olympic program, the IOC needs a recognized and reliable International Federation as a partner, as with all the other Olympic sports.”
That federation will officially become World Boxing, contingent on the imminent vote of the full IOC Session.
Bach, meanwhile, is winding down a tumultuous yet ultimately successful tenure as IOC president. Seven candidates are competing to replace him, including Olympic gold medalists Sebastian Coe of Great Britain — viewed by many as the most qualified candidate — and Zimbabwean swimmer and politician Kirsty Coventry.
Others seeking to become president are Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs (the son of former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch), Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan, and the presidents of several Olympic sports bodies: Johan Eliasch from skiing, David Lappartient from cycling and Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.