Olympic boxing is facing an existential crisis.
Earlier this month, the United States announced its intention to boycott the 2023 men’s and women’s world amateur boxing championships.
Within a matter of days, Britain, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, and the Czech Republic had followed suit, adding to the mounting pressure facing the International Boxing Association (IBA), the entity that organizes the world championships and was the international governing body for the sport of boxing until 2019, when the IOC suspended its recognition of the federation.
The boycott, which was undertaken to protest the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the tournament as well as IBA’s perceived governance issues, marked the latest development in a bitter power struggle between the United States and the Russian Federation—one that will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the sport’s Olympic future.