Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially reinstated boxing in the program for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, following a decision made during the 144th IOC Session in Greece, the organization's press service reports.

Initially, boxing had been left out of the Los Angeles 2028 program due to a crisis within the International Boxing Association (IBA), which had governed amateur boxing for nearly a century. In 2019, the IOC revoked IBA’s recognition after a series of corruption and financial scandals, as well as concerns over match-fixing and bribery of judges during the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

From 2018 to 2019, the IBA was led by Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov, who was included in the U.S. sanctions list. The organization is currently headed by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev, with Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant, as its sole sponsor.

Despite these challenges, boxing competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympics were successfully organized under the supervision of a special IOC task force, underscoring the sport’s significance within the Olympic movement.

Going forward, the development of Olympic boxing will be overseen by World Boxing, an international federation established in 2023. To date, 84 national boxing federations, including the Uzbekistan Boxing Federation, have joined the organization. The IOC’s recent provisional recognition of World Boxing was a key factor in boxing’s reinstatement for Los Angeles 2028, solidifying the sport’s presence on the global stage.

Boxing has a long-standing Olympic history, having first appeared in the modern Games in 1904. Since then, it has been a permanent fixture in every Olympics, except for the 1912 Stockholm Games, where local laws prohibited boxing competitions.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Uzbekistan’s national boxing team achieved historic success, cementing its reputation as one of the world's top boxing nations. The team topped the overall medal standings, with five of its seven male representatives winning gold medals.