IOC Threaten To Remove Boxing From The 2020 Olympic Games

[Ruthless-RKO]

The International Olympic Committee threatened to axe boxing from the Tokyo 2020 Games on Sunday as it opened an investigation into the sport's controversial governing body and said concerns lingered over possible match-fixing at Rio 2016.

The IOC's executive board also froze contacts with and financial payments to the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), whose interim president has been named as a leading criminal by the US Treasury Department.

The board said it was "not satisfied" with a report by AIBA about its governance, refereeing and anti-doping issues, and demanded a further report by April 30.

"The IOC reserves the right to review the inclusion of boxing on the programme of the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020," a statement said.

AIBA responded later on Sunday with a statement that insisted it had fulfilled "the IOC's request to submit a Progress Report".

"This decision is extremely disappointing for AIBA as it hoped the IOC Executive Board would have understood that the processes necessary to implement even more measures require more time," the statement said.

IOC president Thomas Bach said AIBA had been asked to provide more information about accusations of fixing at the Rio Olympics, where a group of officials were sent home following a number of controversial decisions.

"We are still looking into this issue... we want them to (give) a satisfying explanation," Bach said, adding: "We are extremely worried about the governance of AIBA."

AIBA's interim president, Gafur Rakhimov, has been described as "one of Uzbekistan's leading criminals" by the US Treasury Department, which has frozen his assets in the country and claims he has links to the heroin trade.

Rakhimov, 66, came to power last month following the abrupt resignation of Italy's Franco Falcinelli, who was briefly interim president after Taiwan's Wu Ching-Kuo stepped down in November.

"Our message to the IOC and to the world of boxing is that AIBA is turning over a new leaf and we intend to demonstrate our responsibility to all national federations and our commitment to the sport we all love," Rakhimov said in an AIBA statement last week.

Boxing, one of the core Olympic sports, has been contested at every edition of the Games apart from Stockholm in 1912, because it was banned in Sweden at the time.

http://www.BS.com/ioc-threaten ... es--124954

[Ruthless-RKO]

Corruption in the amateurs seems worse than pros

[gilgamesh]

I sincerely hope they get it worked out because Olympic Boxing has a rich history of producing great Pros.

[jamamb]

tbh id find it kind of interesting. i think one reason some guys dont turn pro until later is to try to make the olympics. if there are no olympics we might get to see them have a longer pro development period.

but ya for years now things have been very shady in amateur boxing. its funny because actually the worst robberies ive seen were actually on local amateur club shows where theres like no money or very little money at stake.

[SenorPipino]

Real boxing disappeared from the Olympics years ago.

Brian Kenny says it best when he opines that nowadays it's merely "fencing with gloves."

Watch those gripping wars from the 1976 Games to see what real Olympic boxing once was.

There's a reason why we can't find the sport on any channel anymore when the Olympics roll around.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

GOOD

[JMac]

Real boxing disappeared from the Olympics years ago.

Brian Kenny says it best when he opines that nowadays it's merely "fencing with gloves."

Watch those gripping wars from the 1976 Games to see what real Olympic boxing once was.

There's a reason why we can't find the sport on any channel anymore when the Olympics roll around.

That could be said when they were using the computer scoring but now they use the 10 pt system and in Rio, it was a big difference from say Beijing. The boxing is no longer punch and hold or punch and run. They stand there and bang now. Look at the WSB fights. It is pro boxing and they boxed in the Olympics.

[JMac]

Corruption in the amateurs seems worse than pros

It doesn't help that AIBA just named Gafur Rahimov as President when he is known as a gangster.

[asdfjkl]

Isn't it the simple, Americans can't beat them, so they aren't welcome any more story? Just like the Russians?

[Best Coast]

If they DO remove boxing from the Tokyo Olympics it will result in a MASSIVE influx of amateur stars jumping to the pros in relatively short order.

So for pro boxing it's good in the short run, bad for the long run!!

That being said, I think it's just a threat at this point and they are more likely to get serious about removing it from the OGs in 2024 after 6 years of threats, instead of just 2 years.

[jewboypgh]

this is an absolute disgrace if it happens

[Evander]

Won't happen, if they did they might as well cancel the Olympics.