The future of boxing when it comes to the Olympic Games continues to be in doubt with Russian Umar Kremlev remaining the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA). On Sunday, an extraordinary conference was held in Yerevan in Armenia where the board members ended up turning down the proposal to stage new elections.

The future of boxing when it comes to the Olympic Games continues to be in doubt with Russian Umar Kremlev remaining the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA). On Sunday, an extraordinary conference was held in Yerevan in Armenia where the board members ended up turning down the proposal to stage new elections.

That decision has cast a significant shadow of doubt on boxing’s future in the Olympics beyond the 2024 Games and has also put it in jeopardy. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped the IBA of its status to host boxing events at the Olympic Games since the Tokyo Games and it will continue in the same way up until the 2024 Games to be held in Paris as well.

IBA’s governance, finance, refereeing, and ethical issues will be under the supervision of the IOC, and to make matters worse, boxing may not even be a part of the 2028 Los Angeles Games as it has not been included by IOC in the initial program.

The matter continues to be a cause of concern for the boxing world as 106 delegates out of a possible 155 voted against presidential re-election despite the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowing Kremlev’s Dutch rival Boris Van der Vorst as an eligible candidate. The Dutch had 36 votes in his favor while four candidates abstained from voting at the extraordinary congress, which also ended up getting delayed by an hour due to a power outage.

The constant bickering between the warring factions at the IBA has turned ugly on occasions. In May, Van der Vorst was declared ineligible for the presidential election while Kremlev was allowed to remain in power uncontested. The Dutchman, however, received a clean chit from CAS in a month’s time as the Court ruled that the Dutch were wrongly prevented from standing for the election.

Further drama unfolded just before the extraordinary congress. The Ukrainian boxing federation got suspended by IBA after they asked for Kremlev’s resignation and urged the members to vote him out of office.

The International Olympic Committee has expressed concern following the latest results. In a statement, the IOC said: “Following these disturbing developments, the IOC (executive board) will have to fully review the situation at its next meeting.”