Olympics axing boxing from Games could kill sport as we know it

dailystar.co.uk:

There is a real fear around amateur boxing right now that the sport may cease to exist in the way we know it.All because it is being used as a pawn in a game between the International Olympic Committee and the sport’s governing body AIBA (or IBA as they are now known).Amateur boxing coaches are not sweating about heavyweight purse bids and what big fights will land in what stadium or Saudi Arabian city.But without them, the fighters that chase those millions in the pro game may be lost forever to other sports.Yet if amateur boxing is removed from the Olympics for good as is being threatened by the IOC it is not only the conveyor belt of talent which will slow.The benefits the brilliant sport brings to hard-up communities in every country of the world will be reduced.While modern pentathlon losing its place in the Olympics will be a blow to those who compete in the sport, the damage of boxing being removed from the Games reaches much further.Modern pentathlon is not full of participants from underprivileged areas where the streets bring dangers and career paths where the only route is to prison or death.The IOC reiterated this week that unless IBA cleans up its act then boxing will remain off the list for the 2028 Olympics in LA.While IBA continues to insist it is making the changes requested of them to get back in, there seems to be no progress whatsoever with the IOC.Many kids show up to boxing gyms around the world hoping to be the next Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather or Tyson Fury, it’s the Olympics which is the pinnacle of the amateur sport.And without a place in the Olympics then funding will dramatically decrease.In the UK, that will start at the top with GB Boxing but it will eventually trickle down to the individual.