Grapevine

Future boxing fights face renewed scrutiny after gender-row ‘disaster’

Boxing has been a staple of the modern Olympics, making its debut in 1904 and featuring at every Games since, except in 1912.

Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, and Lennox Lewis, to name just a few, all began their careers at the Olympics.

Boxing at the Paris Games took place in mostly packed venues. However, when the Los Angeles Olympics comes around in four years, it is not certain that it will be on the programme.

This uncertainty existed even before a gender eligibility row erupted in the French capital, overshadowing the action in the ring and only adding to the scrutiny of the sport and its governance.

“I think it has hurt Olympic boxing at a crucial time when its future is still being discussed,” Steve Bunce, a veteran British boxing journalist, said on the BBC. “It’s an absolute disaster.”