IOC ‘not amused’ about International Boxing Association presidential election process

The International Olympic Committee is “not amused” by events in last weekend’s International Boxing Association presidential election, in which the only challenger to Russian incumbent Umar Kremlev was declared ineligible 24 hours before the contest.

At a press conference after an executive meeting in Lausanne, IOC President Thomas Bach said the situation regarding the IBA presidential elections is being closely monitored.

“What can I say? I think we are not amused to see the circumstances of such an election and now the election is being challenged in front of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). This is not what we call good governance ‘ he explained.

The shenanigans over both a presidential election and a new board – four candidates were barred from participating on the latter – deepened the split between the IOC and IBA that threatens boxing’s future at the Olympics.

Bach said he could not comment further until CAS announced the outcome of an appeal for expelled nominee Boris Van der Vorst and three nominees for the board of directors.

That issue aside, he confirmed that the IOC still has concerns about the IBA’s financial dependence on a state-owned company (Gazprom, the Russian oil conglomerate).

He acknowledged that there had been no reports of manipulation of the refereeing or scoring system at the ongoing Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul.

“All of this needs to be considered at the right time to make the decision,” he said.

The IOC has a number of important decisions to make.

First, will there be boxing at the Paris Games 2024 and if so, will it be organized by an IOC task force, as happened in Tokyo, or will the suspension of the IBA 2019 be lifted, allowing them to host the Paris tournament organize, which would also guarantee that boxing will be reinstated in the Olympic program for the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

In a statement released by her attorney Boris van der Vorst – who has been barred from running in the IBA presidential election – and the board of directors-candidates, Mike McAtee, chief executive of Boxing USA, Steve Hartley, president of New Zealand Boxing, and Per -Axel Sjoholm, President of Swedish Boxing, confirmed that on May 17 they had filed a joint appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the IBA’s Interim Boxing Integrity Nomination Unit against the decision to declare them ineligible.

A sole arbitrator will rule on the case and his matter will be issued on or before next Friday.

Meanwhile, in today’s final at the Women’s Championships in Istanbul, Brazil’s Beatrix Ferreira, who lost to Kellie Harrington in the Tokyo Olympic final, was beaten by Rashida Ellis of the USA in the lightweight gold medal fight.

Ellis, coached by Billy Walsh, had previously defeated the Brazilian. Although it was a 3-2 shared decision, the American won relatively easily. Harrington had to withdraw from the event due to injury.