The International Boxing Association has asked United States president Donald Trump’s new administration to “look into” the sport’s omission from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the IBA – which ran the Olympic Games’ boxing programme – in 2019 because of concerns over its finances, governance, ethics, refereeing and judging.
Having failed to meet required reforms set out by the IOC, the IBA was stripped of its role – a decision upheld in April 2024 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) following an appeal.
The IOC organised boxing at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and, though it says it will not do so at future Olympics, it remains hopeful the sport can be restored to the programme through a new international federation.
At present boxing is not part of the 2028 plans – but a final decision on its inclusion has not yet been made.
World Boxing, which hopes to secure the recognition to run Olympic boxing, has already reached 60 members.
But the Russian-led IBA, which wants to re-establish its own governing status, has asked Trump, who took office as president of the United States for the second time on Monday, to help restore boxing to the Olympic programme.
“They [the IOC] have announced in the last 12 months that boxing will not be part of the Olympic program for LA28; it would be very much appreciated if your team could look in to this situation,” an open letter from the IBA to Trump read.
“We sincerely hope that boxing will be part of the celebrations in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and will indeed become a great showcase of genuine love to the sport from the American nation and fans worldwide.”
Trump, who enjoyed a brief foray in boxing promotion during the early 1990s, has been elected on a four-year term and will be in office when the Games are held in Los Angeles in 2028.
The IBA also said it welcomed Trump’s stance on the “participation of ineligible athletes” in boxing.
A gender eligibility row overshadowed the sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting won gold in France, despite the IBA disqualifying both athletes from the 2023 World Championships, saying the fighters had “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”.
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