The messy, bureaucratic war that has Olympic boxing on the ropes

Boxing has been a staple at the Summer Olympics for more than a century, with roots dating back to the early iterations of the Games in ancient Greece.

But a bureaucratic rift has left its Olympic future in question.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to vote Thursday to permanently withdraw its recognition of the International Boxing Association, effectively severing ties between the organization that runs the Olympics and the federation that has overseen international boxing competitions for more than 75 years. It's a dramatic move in a long-simmering saga, one that could complicate − and possibly upend − the sport's place at future Summer Games. Boxing is currently not on the program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Thursday's vote comes amid a period of significant turmoil and division within the Olympic boxing community. In the past 12 months alone, the sport has seen a contested election, allegations of corruption, boycotts of its world championships, the emergence of a rival governing body and multiple trips to the court that handles international sports disputes.

Just last week, the current IBA president publicly described one of his predecessors as a "criminal" who should be "shot."

As the IOC vote looms, here's a quick breakdown of the disputes and drama that have roiled Olympic boxing over the past few years, whether and how boxing can continue to be a part of the Games, and where the American national governing body, USA Boxing, stands amid all the chaos.

So... how did we get here?

There are several layers to this story, but the short version is that it all started with alleged corruption.

While there have been claims of bribery and bout-rigging in the sport for decades, the most recent allegations came out of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. An investigative report identified 11 "suspicious" fights at those Games, plus additional evidence of referees and judges manipulating bouts at previous Olympics, either in exchange for money or as part of quid-pro-quo arrangements.

The IOC, naturally, had concerns about these allegations − as well as the massive amount of debt that the IBA, formerly known as AIBA, took on under former president C.K. Wu. Wu, a longtime IOC member, was ultimately pressured to resign in late 2017.

For context: The IOC and federations like the IBA are independent from one another, but the IOC has the ability to decide which federation it recognizes as the chief authority in each sport, to run Olympic competitions. Given the aforementioned problems in boxing, the IOC decided in 2017 to temporarily stop recognizing the IBA, until it could complete a list of reforms. In short, the IOC asked the IBA to prove that it could effectively govern the sport.

Did the IBA implement those reforms?

No. At least not to the IOC's satisfaction, anyways.

The organization released a 24-page report earlier this month detailing all of the steps it required the IBA to take to regain its status as the Olympic boxing leader, and all of the opportunities it gave the IBA to take them.

"Effectively, the situation has become so serious that the only proportional conclusion is to withdraw the IOC’s recognition of the IBA pursuant to the Olympic Charter," the IOC wrote in the report.

The IBA, of course, disagrees with that assessment. Its president, Umar Kremlev of Russia, has described the organization as completely transformed under his leadership and accused the IOC of needlessly meddling in its business.

"We saved our organization that was on the brink of bankruptcy," Kremlev wrote in an open letter last week. "Our problems were rooted in the past, and we are not the ones to be blamed for it."

Who is Umar Kremlev?

Kremlev led the Russian Boxing Federation before joining the IBA. He is a key figure in this saga − and probably one of the reasons it has become so messy.

In 2020, Kremlev campaigned to become the IBA's president, in part, by promising to eliminate the organization's aforementioned debt, with a goal of raising $50 million in two years. After he was elected, Kremlin-backed energy company Gazprom signed on as the IBA's primary sponsor. The IOC has expressed concerns about this financing arrangement, and the IBA's cozy relationship with a company that has supported Russia's war in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Kremlev was re-elected last year − albeit in controversial fashion. He won by default after the only other candidate for the position, Boris van der Vorst, was deemed ineligible by an IBA panel, which cited minor breaches of campaigning rules. The Dutch boxing executive appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in his favor but did not require the IBA to re-stage the vote.

Boycotts and a rival organization

In the wake of Kremlev's re-election, more than 10 countries − including Great Britain and the United States − boycotted the IBA men's and women's championships. Officials from many of those countries then went on to create World Boxing, a new international federation to rival the IBA, earlier this year.

World Boxing, which counts national governing bodies from the U.S. and Switzerland as its first two official members, has positioned itself as the sport's path back to Olympic inclusion. Missing out on the Games, it said in a recent statement, would be "devastating" for boxing at all levels.

The IBA, meanwhile, has dismissed World Boxing as a "rogue" entity, while Kremlev has slammed the officials who spearheaded the world championship boycotts as "worse than hyenas and jackals."

He has turned to increasingly incendiary language in recent weeks, culminating in his statement at a conference last week that Wu, the former IBA president, was a criminal and should be "shot." Kremlev also accused specific IOC officials of "covering up crimes," which the IOC said in a statement is "highly defamatory."

"Furthermore, calling for an individual formerly linked to the IOC to be 'shot' is language that has no place in sport or in any normal civilised debate," the IOC said.

What does this mean for boxing at the Olympics?

Boxing has been on the metaphorical ropes for several years now. Though the sport has been contested at every edition of the Olympics since 1920, the boxing event in Tokyo was run not by the IBA but by a special task force, under the auspices of the IOC. The IOC has also seized control of the qualification process for the 2024 Paris Games and will run the boxing competition there as well.

This is just a temporary arrangement, however, and it appears unlikely to continue past 2024. That's why the IOC has left boxing off the preliminary schedule for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Boxing could still return to the program, if the IOC's governance concerns are resolved. And the anticipated ouster of the IBA this week could ultimately be the first step down that road.

In all likelihood, World Boxing will make a significant push to fill the void left by the IBA as boxing's top international federation. It has said it hopes to work "constructively and collaboratively with the IOC and all other stakeholders to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic program."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.