The Lausanne-based organisation, formed in 1920 by representatives of England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, during the Summer Olympics in Antwerp, have ruled and sanctioned amateur boxing around the world, and continued to organise and govern boxing in the Olympic Games for nearly a century. However, AIBA failed its primary agenda during recent years.

It was shocking for the international boxing community to witness a rocky cycle of events for AIBA, as this institution was led into the worst crisis in its history. Continuous debts, corruption allegations and unbalance leadership, resulted in suspension of recognition of AIBA, as the governing body for the sport of boxing, by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

What this means for the future of AIBA? 

Stripped of any involvement in Olympic Games, AIBA is now losing its recognition in the international arena, not to mention the financial support from the IOC, and the participation at Tokyo 2020. 

For most outside observers, the administrations of two recent AIBA Presidents, Ching-Kuo Wu, from Taiwan and Gafur Rakhimov, from Uzbekistan, were primary responsible for what transpired so far.

AIBA itself issued a lifetime ban to Wu, for financial mismanagement and accounting irregularities. The Wu administration brought AIBA into a huge debt - allegedly nearly $16 million (£12 million/€14.5 million). Wu's mishandling of judging scandals, during the last Olympics, made an additional harmful impact in the credibility of this organization. Wu resigned as AIBA's President in November 2017.

Curiously, back in May 2019, in their report to the IOC Executive Board, the IOC Inquiry Committee on AIBA, chaired by IOC Executive member, Nenad Lalovic, noted their "mandate was not to look into the situation of individuals, but to assess AIBA's governance" and they did not find "any indication of the involvement" of Wu or "any evidence of illegal behaviour" committed by Wu, who still has no formal accusations or penalties by the IOC. 

In this story with the report, not everything is as clear as it seems at first glance. Wu still remains an IOC member.

After Wu's resignation, he was temporarily replaced by Franco Falcinelli, from Italy, until Falcinelli's surprise resignation cleared the way for Rakhimov.

At that moment, Rakhimov was task for cleaning up corruption, within AIBA, and prevent the sport of boxing for being banned from the next Olympics. The Rakhimov administration failed and his short Presidency proved to be another blunder for AIBA.

Back in 2012, the United States Department of the Treasury blacklisted Rakhimov and ordered financial sanctions on him, and several other individuals, accused of being part of "criminal activities" in Central Asia. Rakhimov has never been prosecuted and he claimed these allegations were all "politically motivated". But, at the time, many claimed that putting him in charge of AIBA's finances and anti-corruption reforms was another mistake.

By June 2019, the IOC voted to suspend its recognition of AIBA as the governing body for the sport of boxing, stripping AIBA of any involvement in the Olympic Games. As of today, the IOC will oversee the qualification events for boxing for Tokyo 2020.

Unfortunately, by the time Rakhimov stepped aside, it was already too late for AIBA to rekindle its relationship with the IOC.

Now, AIBA, under new leadership, regrouped and is working diligently to rebuild its reputation worldwide, lift the IOC suspension and bring its institutional character back to its former glory. To reach this urgent goals, AIBA interim President, Dr. Mohamed Moustahsane, from Morocco, in conjunction with AIBA Executive Committee (EC) members, established two vital Commissions on reform and marketing.

Both Commissions, reform, led by Moustahsane himself, and marketing, led by EC Member, Umar Kremlev, who also heads the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF), have been working very hard to satisfy IOC principles and set a plan to eventually bring AIBA back to IOC good grace and out of debt.

For sure, another key affair toward the successful accomplishment of these pressing goals, must be the upcoming AIBA Presidential elections, to be held this year, after Tokyo 2020.

A close look at possible candidates, especially the four vice presidents, Osvaldo Bisval from Argentina, Anas Al Otaiba from the United Arab Emirates, Falcinelli and Edgar Tanner from Australia, paint a dark picture for all of them to become AIBA President, due to the general perception, justified or not, of their past involvement in both, the Wu and Rakhimov administrations.

Although, a few AIBA EC members, on paper, seem fit for the Presidential role, many of them do not have real leadership in their continental regions, they lack the resources and some are limited by financial and administrative difficulties in their own National Associations and Federations.

Without a doubt, the emerging figure as a viable and strong candidate to become AIBA next President is Kremlev.

Kremlev, the 37-year-old secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation, have shown immense interest to save AIBA, by actively campaigning in AIBA's favour at the international level, suggesting ways to improve AIBA's finances, bringing attention to amateur boxing as a great sport for the youth, managing two amazing AIBA World Championships, and strengthening the AIBA brand, through his promotional efforts, as chairman of the Marketing Commission.

In addition, Kremlev have been determine to unify and improve communication between world professional and amateur boxing leaderships, founding the Global Boxing Forum initiative. 

Under Kremlev guidance, very successful Global Boxing Forums were accomplished, with the participation of the four most prestigious world professional boxing sanctioning bodies, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Organization and the International Boxing Federation and AIBA.

Lastly, in his leadership role in the Russian Boxing Federation, Kremlev created and organised the "International Boxing Day", held every year in Russia, usually at the end of July. This successful international festival attracts people from all over the world, reinforcing boxing culture worldwide.

In these tough times, of turmoil, AIBA needs a strong leader, of real action, with a proven track record, who has the right resources, and this young Russian frontrunner, Umar Kremlev, seems to have it all. 

A Kremlev administration could lead AIBA out of administrative and financial crisis, re-establish its bond with the IOC, and help make AIBA great again.