2025 has not been kind to the International Boxing Association (IBA), the sports body formerly in charge of amateur and Olympic boxing. Suspended since 2019 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for concerns over governance, financial stability and refereeing, IBA has largely been sidelined for the past six years, as boxing at the last two Olympic Games – Tokyo and Paris – were organised by the IOC itself.
The irrelevance of IBA became even more clear in February this year, when the IOC provisionally recognised IBA’s rival, World Boxing, as the governing boxing for the Olympic movement. This must have been particularly galling to IBA as World Boxing was set up only two years ago, compared to IBA’s 80-year history.
Sadly, IBA’s president Umar Kremlev, has learnt nothing from his sports body’s slide in reputation. His team responded to the elevation of World Boxing by complaining that the IOC had plotted against IBA with “a long-term plan to try to eliminate the governing body.”
Several countries have responded by ditching IBA in 2025 and moving their memberships over to World Boxing.
Haemorrhaging both support and membership, IBA has since chosen to broaden its appeal beyond amateur boxing and Olympic boxing. It has taken up ‘bare knuckle boxing’, calling it “a pure and primal form of our sport.”
There is a reason modern boxing is playing with gloves and headgear – it keeps it safe for athletes. IBA should know better, but it has still chosen to drive headlong into this combat sport.
Similarly, since only boxers competing under the World Boxing banner now have a chance to qualify for the Olympic Games, IBA has had to provide an incentive to attract athletes to its events.
IBA has been forced to offer huge cash prizes to bring in competitors. In a way, it is embracing professional boxing and leaving behind its roots in amateur boxing.
The 2025 IBA Men’s Elite World Championships, scheduled to be held in Dubai from December 2 to December 13, will offer a total of $8 million in prize money. With $300,000 on offer for the winner of each category, IBA calls this competition “the richest in the sport’s history.”
This shift from amateur to professional boxing could soon put IBA in a confrontation with other professional boxing bodies across the world, that may not take kindly to IBA stepping onto their turf.
This means that the more IBA tries to make a niche for itself, the more it is sliding into irrelevance as a sports body.