The IOC handed down the heavy decision on Thursday.
(Reuters) - The International Boxing Association's (IBA) recognition as the global body for the sport was stripped on Thursday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance, and ethical issues.
The IOC's extraordinary session, which was held online, rubber-stamped an executive board recommendation by 69 votes to one to withdraw IBA's recognition.
IBA, which called the decision "a tremendous error," had tried to have it blocked through an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sport's highest court, which rejected the appeal on Tuesday.
The IOC had previously suspended the IBA in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing, and ethical issues and did not involve it in running the boxing events in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Boxing is part of the 2024 Paris Olympics after being threatened to be removed. But the qualification bouts and the competition are being run by IOC and not IBA, as was the case in the Tokyo Games.
Other issues such as a sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom that was terminated in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine further complicated the position of IBA, which is led by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev.
"The IOC has made a tremendous error by withdrawing its recognition of the IBA, revealing its true politicized nature," the association said in a statement. "We have successfully implemented all recommendations outlined by the IOC in its roadmap."
"Despite the challenges, the IBA remains committed to the development of boxing, the preservation of its independence, and the organization of official tournaments and World Boxing Championships at the highest level," it added. "We possess the legal right to do so, and we are prepared to defend it before any appropriate authority."
While IOC regularly removes or adds sports to the Olympic Games program to make it more attractive to younger audiences, it is extremely rare for the Olympic body to strip an international sports federation's recognition.
IBA's actions have led to the creation of a breakaway group called World Boxing and several countries have left IBA to join the new organization.
"This is a hugely significant moment for the sport," World Boxing said in a statement. "All national boxing federations now have a critically important decision to make if they want boxers from their country to have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and beyond."
"We urge every national federation to join and support World Boxing in its efforts to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement," it added.