Pugilism remains an Olympic sport – and now under the direction of “World Boxing”. Michael Müller, German board member of the new world federation, talks about the tasks and challenges ahead of the 2028 Games.
Mr. Müller, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently made a decision: Boxing remains an Olympic sport and is on the program for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles (LA 28). How important is this decision for boxing?
There is no doubt that this decision is existential. At least for around 80 percent of the countries in which Olympic boxing is financed by governments and National Olympic Committees. All in all, we are talking about a financial volume of around 100 million euros. It’s hard to imagine what would have happened if the boxing tournament had been removed from the Olympic competition calendar. But fortunately it didn’t come to that. The provisional recognition of World Boxing (WB) by the Executive Board of the IOC and the unanimous vote of the IOC General Assembly to include boxing in the LA 28 Olympic program ahead of schedule are a huge relief for us.
What are WB’s next steps for LA28?
Well, with the IOC decision, we have been given the responsibility of not only determining the seven weight classes for boxers. It is also our responsibility to determine the qualification mode for LA28 and to organize the Olympic boxing tournament at the high level of the previous tournament in Paris 2024. That’s a lot of work.
But how can boxers qualify for the Summer Games in California, what should the path to Los Angeles look like?
Our principle is that every athlete should have three chances to qualify. One consideration would be that …
Interview by Oliver Rast
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