The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal by the International Boxing Association (IBA) against a decision made last year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC decided last June that it would no longer recognise the IBA as the governing body for the sport.

The IOC decision was the culmination of a process that started after the 2016 Olympic Games, during which it asked the IBA to take measures to address serious concerns about its governance and financial stability.

Conditions

The IBA had sought to have the IOC decision annulled, but a panel of the Lausanne-based court decided yesterday (2 April) that the boxing organisation “had not complied with the conditions set down by the IOC for recognition”.

These conditions included reforms of the IBA’s processes relating to referees and judges to ensure its integrity.

The court found that the IOC’s decision was justified, and emphasised that its right to control the circumstances in, and the conditions on, which it conferred recognition “outweighed the IBA’s personality rights”.

IOC needs ‘reliable’ partner

The IBA said today (3 April) that it was analysing the judgment, to decide whether it would appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

The IOC, which has committed to organising the 2020 and 2024 Olympic boxing events, welcomed the CAS decision.

It added, however, that boxing may not feature at the 2028 games in Los Angeles, as it was not able to organise another Olympic boxing tournament.

“To keep boxing on the Olympic programme, the IOC needs a recognised and reliable international federation as a partner, as with all the other Olympic sports,” the IOC continued, adding that it needed to have such a partner in place by early 2025.