Boxing to return to the Olympics in 2028

Boxing has officially been reinstated into the Olympic program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The decision was unanimously approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during its 144th session held in Greece on Thursday. This latest update is an important step forward for a sport that has had its share of challenges in recent years due to governance issues, particularly ontroversies surrounding its former governing body, the International Boxing Association (IBA).

The road to boxing’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics has not been smooth in any way. The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 following disputes over governance, financial transparency, and concerns about judging integrity.

All of these issues led to the IOC stripping the IBA of recognition and taking over the organisation of boxing tournaments at both the Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 Olympics. In 2023, a new governing body, World Boxing, was formed by breakaway members of the IBA, paving the way for boxing’s provisional recognition by the IOC earlier this year.

IOC President Thomas Bach emphasized that this provisional recognition allowed the committee to move forward with reinstating boxing into the Olympic program. He made it known that the World Boxing would provide a stable platform for athletes worldwide to compete under fair and transparent conditions.

During the session in Greece, all IOC members raised their hands in favour of boxing’s inclusion. Bach noted that unanimous decisions are rare but was proof of the commission’s commitment to seeing that athletes have clarity about their participation in future Games. 

Boxing has been part of nearly every Summer Olympics since it first featured at the 1904 Games, except for Stockholm 1912 due to Swedish laws banning combat sports at the time. Women’s boxing was introduced at London 2012.  But controversies have plagued boxing over recent decades, including scoring disputes related to the adoption of the “10-point must” system from Rio 2016 onwards.