Daily Times

The Olympics is the pinnacle of boxing and the sport’s removal from the Games would be a disaster, Tokyo 2020 middleweight gold medallist Lauren Price said. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June decided to strip the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) of recognition over its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues. The boxing tournaments at the Paris Games this summer are being organised by the IOC, but there are fears it might be excluded from future Games, with the sport not on the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028. “I believe boxing can’t come out of the Olympics. It’ll be a disaster, young people’s hopes, dreams will be crushed,” Welshwoman Price told Sky Sports in an interview published on Friday. “I believe the Olympics is the pinnacle of the sport and that’s where your best boxers come from, you look at the likes of (Floyd) Mayweather and people like that, they went through that process as well. It is very important that boxing stays in.