FILE PHOTO: Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Boxing - Women's Middleweight - Medal Ceremony - Kokugikan Arena - Tokyo, Japan - August 8, 2021. Gold medallist Lauren Price of Britain gestures during the medal ceremony Pool via REUTERS/Buda Mendes/File Photo
(Reuters) - 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.
"You don't get any higher than the Olympics, so for me, if someone said to me, you could go to the World Championships with IBA or you're going to the Olympic Games, I know which one I would pick."
The IBA's rival governing body World Boxing has said it will seek recognition from Olympic organisers to replace the IBA and ensure the sport remains a part of the Games for LA28.
Price, an athlete representative for World Boxing, said she expected more countries' federations to join the governing body after this year's Olympics in Paris.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
