Five years ago, the International Boxing Association and the International Testing Agency first started working together in the fight against doping, a blooming collaboration that has ensured clean sport remains at the forefront of boxing.

The partnership was first formalised in 2019 between the organisations, giving the IBA an independent regulator of its anti-doping measures. This was then extended in 2021 for the calendar year.

Today, that relationship is stronger than ever, as the ITA still supports IBA’s anti-doping programme. In 2022, the IBA renewed its partnership for a further three years, expanding responsibilities.

In-competition testing, long-term sample storage, intelligence and investigations, source handling and the operation of the Reveal platform were added that year; adding to the areas already covered by previous agreements such as out-of-competition testing, intelligence gathering, test distribution planning, education, result management, handling anti-doping violations and Therapeutic Use Exemptions.

Part of that education includes frequent seminars delivered to officials. For example, during the 2022 IBA Youth World Championships in La Nucia, Spain where there was an update about the latest Prohibited List on the competition rest day.

At the revived IBA Junior World Boxing Championships 2023 that took place last November in Yerevan, ITA’s presence was crucial to educate the next generation of champions with its ambassador from Switzerland, ice hockey Olympic bronze medallist Florence Schelling OLY.

Last year, the ITA delivered the webinar “Principles and Values of Clean Sport” to the boxing community, which also spoke of the consequences of doping physically, mentally, and financially.

In 2024, IBA and ITA organized a series of 5 webinars designed for administrators, athletes, coaches, and medical personnel of the IBA community, who all play a key part in keeping sport clean. It provided a great opportunity to learn more and understand how Anti-Doping works, including the Doping Control Process, the use of medications and Therapeutic Use Exemptions, and Out of Competition Testing.

‘The relationship and trust between IBA and the ITA continue to improve over these first five years. This is reflected in the 2022 agreement signed, promising another three years of cooperation and even more testing responsibilities devolved. We are forever striving for transparency within our organisation and the ITA has been a beneficial contributor towards making our sport safe and clean. There is no place for doping in our sport, and I am happy that we joined our forces with ITA five years ago to ensure that fair chance is in place for everybody in boxing,’ Chris Roberts OBE, IBA Secretary General and CEO said.

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