Ireland Olympic future secure as IABA joins World Boxing

Following the announcement that the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has formally joined World Boxing, Team Ireland’s future participation in the Olympic Games has been secured.

Although the Irish Boxing Association (IBA), the governing body for amateur boxing in Ireland, has a long history, IABA members overwhelmingly voted in favor of changing.

In an extraordinary general meeting in April, 116 of the 117 clubs represented approved of constitutional reform, which made it possible for an international federation to join the IBA and World Boxing.

Following a provisional recognition of World Boxing, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board made the recommendation to include boxing in the Los Angeles 2028 summer Olympics program.

After the IOC stripped the IBA of recognition in 2023 for its failure to implement reforms in governance and finance, the IOC held the boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Games.

When the schedule for LA 2028 was first announced in 2022, the IOC had encouraged the sport’s national federations to establish a new global body.

The IOC stated that only World Boxing athletes whose national federations were members of the World Boxing organization could compete in Los Angeles at the time the 2028 Olympics qualifying events began.

Niall O’Carroll, the head of IABA’s board of directors, referred to the development as “an historic moment for Irish boxing.”

Every boxing player in the Association has a right to the Olympic dream, and their clubs have ensured that dream will continue into LA 2028 and beyond, he said.

“Irish Boxing has always valued our Olympic journey, from our first team of nine boxers in Paris in 1924, to maintaining our position as Team Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport.”

We have more Olympic podiums to climb and medals to win, but Kellie Harrington, a double Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, Katie Taylor, a champion boxer from Ireland in 1992, and Michael Carruth, a champion of boxing, are “the best of us.”