THE Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has now submitted its application to join World Boxing, forging a pathway towards the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
This development comes after last month’s Women’s World Boxing Championships, where the O’Rourke sisters, Aoife and Lisa, were the only Irish boxers to enter the tournament’s quarterfinals.
Given Ireland’s success at international amateur competitions over the years, it was surprising, to say the least, that just two members of its squad secured their place on the podium.
And while the O’Rourke sisters ultimately claimed silver, their respective achievements only arrived after several Irish fighters found themselves on the wrong end of a contentious decision.
As of now, the IABA is still aligned with the International Boxing Association (IBA), the body that is responsible for organising the world championships.
Back in 2023, the IBA lost its Olympic recognition due to concerns over governance issues, a lack of financial transparency and bout manipulation.
But since then, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has identified World Boxing, a breakaway organisation, as the sport’s flagship international federation.
In response to this, while also recognising a lack of certainty attached to the IBA’s amateur boxing future, the IABA decided to present its boxing clubs with two pivotal votes.
The first vote was to remove any constitutional reference to the IBA, to which all but one of the 117 Irish clubs responded with a resounding YES.
Then, in a second vote that took place earlier today, the decision to seek dual membership with the IBA and World Boxing passed by the same margin.
So now, with 89 national federations having joined World Boxing’s rapidly growing list of members, the IABA looks set to be the body’s next addition.
