IBA warns Dutch federation of ‘repercussions’ if it goes ahead with ‘unsanctioned’ event

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has warned the Dutch federation of the “repercussions” of going ahead with a tournament despite it being suspended by the world body for “breaching the rules and regulations”.

The IBA recently suspended the national federations of Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the Netherlands for their “participation” in a “rogue” boxing organisation.

Last month, a group of national federations, including those of the United States and Britain launched a new organisation — World Boxing — with an aim to secure the long-term future of the sport at the Olympic Games.

On Thursday, IBA wrote to the Dutch federation, saying it should not go ahead with an “unsanctioned international event in Eindhoven”.

The Eindhoven Box Cup is scheduled to start Friday and conclude on May 30.

“On 22 May, the IBA suspended seven National Federations, including the Dutch Boxing Federation, for various breaches of the IBA Constitution and Regulations, which deprives all of them of all membership benefits, including hosting of international competitions,” said IBA in a statement.

“Following that, the Dutch Boxing Federation recklessly ignored the regulations and sent an official communication to the National Federations, stating they will keep going on with the event.

“The IBA is forced to reiterate its commitment to protecting the integrity of the Boxing Family and its Constitution. All those entities who decide to breach the rules will trigger an automatic mechanism of the Constitution and Regulations implementation.”

The IBA has said that the suspended federations could be reinstated if they show that they have no “affiliated officials participating in another international boxing federation” and provide a written statement, confirming they have “ceased participation in any other international boxing federation and commits not to participate in such federations in the future.” They also must condemn “any attempts to establish an alternative international boxing federation” on their respective websites.

“The rules are not applied à la carte and we are following the principles of good governance where each action has its consequences that are applied automatically. There could be no exceptions, we have one Constitution that excludes ambiguity,” IBA secretary-general and CEO George Yerolimpos said in the statement.

The future of Olympic boxing remains shrouded in uncertainty as the sport does not feature in the initial programme for Los Angeles Games 2028.

The IBA, formerly known as AIBA, was suspended by the International Olympic Committee in 2019.

The world boxing body was stripped of involvement in the Tokyo Olympics and has lost its right to organise boxing at the Olympics for the second consecutive Games in Paris next year.