Los Angeles 2028 Games: IOC backing inclusion of boxing, Olympics chief Bach says
Move ends years-long saga over sport’s future, with new World Boxing body granted provisional recognition
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board on Monday recommended the inclusion of boxing in the Los Angeles 2028 summer Olympics, ending a years-long saga regarding the sport’s Olympic future.
Last month, Olympic chiefs granted provisional recognition to World Boxing in a major step towards the sport’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.
“After the provisional recognition of World Boxing in February we were in the position to take this decision so that this recommendation has to go to the session,” Thomas Bach, the IOC president, told a press conference. “I am confident the session will approve it.”
The recommendation will now be put to a vote at the IOC session in Greece this week and is expected to pass easily, with boxing among the popular Olympic sports.
Boxing was run by the IOC at last summer’s Games in Paris, after the world governing body stripped the International Boxing Association of recognition in 2023 over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.
And the sport was not included on the initial LA 2028 programme, with the IOC urging national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body. World Boxing, now with more than 80 national federations as members, was launched in 2023.
