The Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) (russian: Федерация бокса России) is the governing body of both Olympic-style and professional

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

in Russia. The Federation was founded on 1 February 1992 after the dissolution of the USSR Boxing Federation. The RBF is the member of the

International Boxing Association The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is an independent sport organization that sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate cha ...

and

European Boxing Confederation The European Boxing Confederation (EUBC) is the European governing body in amateur boxing. It is a member of the world governing body AIBA. It came into existence on the adoption of its constitution on February 16, 2009, taking over the functions ...

. The IBA temporarily suspended Russian athletes from competing in international competitions starting on 4 March 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Later that month, the Federation expressed its direct support for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and stated: "The entire boxing community of Russia expresses its full confidence and support to the President of the Russian Federation

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

!" Umar Kremlev has been the IBA president since 2017.

Controversy

Olympics 2016 Rio, Brazil

During the 2016 Olympic Games several bouts involving Russian boxers seemed to be judged in favour of the Russian athlete, when it was clear to many they had lost. Bantamweight Vladimir Nikitin was given a unanimous decision against Ireland's world champion Michael Conlan in the quarterfinal of the tournament, with judges all scoring for the Russian in rounds one and three. Afterwards, in an irate television interview, Conlan claimed AIBA were cheats and had been paid to fix fights. In order to reach the quarterfinal bout with Conlan, Nikitin was controversially awarded the win by split decision when he fought Thailand's Chatchai Butdee. According to the ''

Bangkok Post The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...

'', Butdee was quoted as saying, "I should have won the fight. I think I was more on target. I do not really understand the judges' decisions." The day after the quarterfinal AIBA denied these allegations; however, they removed several Judges and Referees for the panel for the rest of the games over irregularities in scoring. They also stated decisions would stand.

References

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Boxing in Russia Sports governing bodies in Russia {{boxing-stub