The future of Olympic boxing was plunged into further doubt in Yerevan on Sunday as delegates of the sport’s world governing body, the International Boxing Association (IBA), voted emphatically against permitting a leadership challenge to incumbent president Umar Kremlev.
After a 45-minute delay caused by a power cut in the Armenian capital, the Russian was backed to continue by 106 votes to 36, in a verdict widely assumed to shatter hopes of the sport securing a place on the programme for Los Angeles 2028. Afterwards Kremlev delivered a bullish speech in which he appeared to prioritise a new, post-Olympic path for the organisation, insisting: “We shouldn’t say Olympic boxing, we should say IBA boxing.”
