And that’s two. After the United States, a second country has officially turned its back on the International Boxing Federation (IBA) to join its new competitor, World Boxing. The Swiss boxing federation, SwissBoxing, has announced its decision to leave the IBA with immediate effect and join World Boxing, the body set up last month at the initiative of the United States and Great Britain. In a press release published on Thursday June 1 on its website, SwissBoxing explained that the decision taken by its Board “must still be approved by the Delegates Assembly“. It justifies its departure by “the IOC’s announcement to withdraw from the IBA – formerly AIBA – the organisation of the Olympic boxing competition for the 2024 Games in Paris, including the qualifying competitions. The reason is massive accusations of corruption and ethical violations.” The United States and Switzerland are the first two countries to cut ties with the IBA to side with World Boxing, but five other nations have been wiped off the map by the body chaired by Russia’s Umar Kremlev. Last month, it announced that it had excluded Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and New Zealand, all of whom it considered guilty of wanting to join World Boxing. The Czech Republic was also suspended for organising an international tournament featuring American boxers.
