‘Our Olympic Future is at Stake’ – IABA Declare World Boxing Intent
The IABA has declared its intent to join World Boxing.
A letter stating as much has been sent to every affiliated club and an EGM where the clubs will vote on staying with IBA or joining World Boxing will be held in April.
A statement released today said:
The Chair of IABA’s Board of Directors, with the support of IABA’s elected representatives in the Officer Board and Central Council, has written to all clubs this evening, at an important point in the life of Irish Boxing.
This week the International Olympic Committee is expected to formally announce Boxing as part of the competition schedule for LA28. This is in large part to work of World Boxing in securing sufficient support to ensure Boxing has a global federation. Membership of World Boxing is a prerequisite of being recognized as an Olympic sport.
IABA will issue a Letter of Intent to join World Boxing, and will hold an EGM of all clubs in April. Ultimately, clubs will decide the path forward for Irish boxing
THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS ISSUED TO ALL IABA CLUBS TODAY:
Dear Secretaries,
I write to you at an important point in the life of Irish Boxing. This week the International Olympic Committee is expected to formally announce Boxing as part of the competition schedule for LA28.
This is in large part to work of World Boxing in securing sufficient support to ensure Boxing has a global federation. Membership of World Boxing is a prerequisite of being recognized as an Olympic
sport.
As I put together the final arrangements for a second and final vote on our constitutional position with regards to us having control over our own future, I wanted to write to you all to clear up some of the misinformation that has existed about World Boxing over the last 15 months or so.
As you know, 84 federations have joined World Boxing and several other European federations have, in the last week, signaled their intention to join. World Boxing was granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February. A World Boxing Membership Map and a World Boxing Membership List are included below.
The IOC executive board has recommended that boxing be included at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. A vote on that recommendation will take place in Greece tomorrow. It is expected to pass.
1: ‘The only members of World Boxing are small islands and weak federations.
‘ 84 federations are members of World Boxing, including 20+ in Europe and strong boxing nations such as China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Brazil, India, GB and USA. In fact, Ireland, Spain and Portugal are the only federations in Western Europe who are not members of World Boxing
2: ‘We will have no competition for our kids in World Boxing
World Boxing has created its European Boxing Commission, which is responsible for the
running of competitions in Europe. Its calendar includes competitions at Schools (U15), Junior (U17), Youth (U19), U22 and Elite, as well as 23 multi-nations tournaments. That calendar was shared with all IABA clubs by Central Council on February 24th last. As a member of World Boxing, we would have the right to lobby for the creation of other competitions and potentially host Europeans or even Worlds on our shores.
3: ‘World Boxing may not get Olympic recognition and IBA could be back with a change of IOC president’
The IOC granted World Boxing provisional recognition as Boxing’s Olympic Federation last month. The IOC have clearly stated that IBA will never have involvement in Olympic competition again and have gone further to say that if a country wants to be an Olympic federation they need to remove themselves from IBA. This is not about the individual opinion of one individual such as IOC President Thomas Bach (a tactic frequently used by IBA to confuse the issue) but a collective decision
based on the weight of evidence presented to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport. IBA are the only sporting federation to EVER be expelled from the IOC, there is no Olympic path back.
4: ‘The Olympics are irrelevant to the majority of our members’
Ask the kids who are currently boxing in your clubs what their ultimate ambition is. They’ll
say Olympic gold. We have significant leverage with our political paymasters because of our success at the Olympics. We are Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport. The potential for the growth of the number of boxers in each and every club is increased by our participation in the Olympics. The potential for revenue generation is massively increased by our participation in the Olympics – it is the only time when Boxing gets fair coverage by our media. If we remove the infighting and start pulling in the same direction the possibility of raising sponsorship and new streams of revenue is massively increased.
5: ‘What if IBA decided to kick us out?’
As of now there are 61 nations with Dual membership. None of those countries, to our knowledge, have sought permission. All continue to function without sanction. As Central Council shared in February, we wrote to IBA on January 17th, submitting an application for dual membership. 61 other federations did not have to apply. If IBA haven’t sanctioned all of the countries that have already created their own dual membership situation, what ground would they have for sanctioning
us? Also, as the IOC have dictated that all Olympic countries have to leave IBA exactly what competition will we have once those countries leave? IBA have recently told us that that they will make a decision at their board meeting during the Women’s World Championships. As we can see from the judging decisions at that championships it would seem our Boxers are clearly being punished. As of now No outcome has been communicated to us from the IBA post championships on our application.
6: ‘World Boxing won’t be any better, sure look at the Paris Olympics judging scandals.’
World Boxing had no involvement in the Paris Olympics. It was not their R&Js it was those trained by IBA. So, if we are to have any hope of fair and balanced judging, which we clearly aren’t seeing in the Women’s Worlds at the moment, we need to try something new. One of the grounds for IBAs expulsion was corruption and the experiences of our Boxers in Rio 2016 was a major part of
that, this is a documented fact. Will World Boxing get everything right? Who can say, but we know where we are now is not fair to our boxers and not an Olympic federation anymore.
7: ‘Our club travelling restrictions is down to the Board of Directors interfering in Boxing’
Our clubs need permission to travel to any country for any boxing purpose – but that has been complicated for the last couple of years simply because the IBA got suspended and then became the only International Federation ever to be expelled from the IOC. As a result, a new Federation had to be formed. IBA then took the stance of attacking that federation and has clearly stated that no member is allowed partake in competition with USA in particular, and that
participation against other that, this World Boxing members will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. This lack of clarity lends itself to confusion and corruption.
Should we decide to join a new federation and then change our constitution accordingly, we will bein a position to grant permissions again ensuring our boxers are insured and that our longstanding relationships with countries can be maintained. No global federation should have the right to ban you from competing wherever you wish. At the moment we are suffering for remaining loyal when many other countries have jumped ship and not been punished.
I know all clubs have questions, and every club has a stake in how we decide to move forward. I will be hosting a Q&A session on IABA’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@iabaIrishBoxing on Monday, March 24th at 8pm. That footage will then be published across all IABA social media channels and on the IABA website.
Whilst Im flagging our intention to join World Boxing, the ultimate decision on this will be in the hands of the members as I have stated since our first vote in August 2023. We will host another EGM in April to give the members the final say. Our constitution needs to be amended to ensure we have control of our future with regard to membership of any international federation we choose. In order for us to achieve constitutional change we will need a positive vote by 75% of our member clubs attending.
Our Olympic future is at stake. While it is expected this week that Boxing will be officially added to the competition schedule for LA28, it will be the case that any federation still connected to IBA will not be included. It is my duty as Chairperson to ensure the long-term future of Boxing in Ireland. Losing our Olympic status would be devastating for us all. Equally my ambition is that we move forward together. This move has been signed-off by our elected representatives in the
Officer Board and Central Council We are embarking on a period of change for the organization. I am hoping these changes will benefit
all our members through competitive clarity and greater financial support to our clubs.
This is possibly the most important decision our clubs will ever face. I ask one question; do you want to be the person who ends Boxing’s rich history as Ireland’s most successful ever sport? Please feel free to share your thoughts here https://shout.com/s/MyvFalc4
The ultimate decision will be yours.
Yours,
Niall O’Carroll,
Chair, IABA Board of Directors
World Boxing Membership Map
Registered in Ireland. Company Limited by Guarantee
Registered in Ireland. Registration Number: 459881 Company Limited by Guarantee Registered Office:
National Stadium, Dublin
World Boxing Membership List
Africa America Asia Europe Oceania
Algeria Argentina Bhutan Andorra Australia
Egypt Barbados Cambodia Belgium Fiji
The Gambia Bermuda Chinese
Taipei Croatia French Polynesia
Madagascar Brazil China Czech Republic Kiribati
Malawi Canada India Denmark New Zealand
Nigeria Cayman Islands Iran England Samoa
Sudan Dominica Iraq Estonia
Dominican Republic Japan Finland
Ecuador Jordan France
Grenada Kazakhstan Germany
Guatemala Kyrgyzstan Greece
Honduras Laos Hungary
Jamaica Malaysia Iceland
Panama Mongolia Italy
Peru Myanmar Kosovo
Suriname Nepal Lithuania
United States Pakistan Montenegro
US Virgin Islands Palestine Netherlands
Philippines Norway
Singapore Poland
South Korea Scotland
Syria Slovakia
Thailand Sweden
Turkmenistan Switzerland
Uzbekistan TĂĽrkiye
Wales
GB Boxing: associate
member
