Van der Vorst is seeking to challenge Russian official Umar Kremlev for the Presidency at Sunday's Extraordinary Congress here, having been deprived of the opportunity in Istanbul in May when he was deemed to have broken.

He successfully appealed that ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in June, although IBA's Extraordinary Congress must first vote to re-run the election under plans for the gathering in the Armenian capital.

He boasts notable support among National Federations from western nations, with reference made to the decision to leave boxing off the initial programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) continued criticism of IBA's governance.

England Boxing chair Richard Brooke and chief executive Jerome Pels recognised that "IBA has made some positive strides towards addressing ongoing concerns by the IOC", but said that "the legitimacy of the refereeing and judging, how the organisation is funded and a failure to address fundamental governance issues" have not yet been sufficiently addressed.

They described the omission from Los Angeles 2028 as a "further, considerable red flag", after the IOC stripped IBA of its rights to organise boxing at Paris 2024.

They concluded that "urgent changes needed to protect boxing's status as an Olympic sport are best served" by van der Vorst.

Welsh Boxing concurred, arguing "the only way to guarantee our boxers' dreams are able to become reality is to vote for Boris van der Vorst".

The Presidents of the Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish Boxing Federations wrote a joint letter of endorsement for van der Vorst, declaring that "the governing of IBA must be signified by transparency and fairness in procedures, programmes and regulations and a new trust must be established for the federation".

Boxing Canada President Ryan Savage accused the incumbent IBA leadership of "jeopardizing the history and legacy boxing so uniquely and globally shared through the centuries" in backing van der Vorst.

IBA's controversial ties with Russian majority state-owned firm Gazprom have been credited with helping to keep the organisation afloat, but also drew concern from the IOC over its "financial dependency" on the gas giant.

Ted Tanner, President of Boxing Australia, emphasised the importance of restoring IBA's IOC recognition, and insisted that "the IOC has recently made it clear that an IBA that is financed and managed from Russia is not accepted by it".

Van der Vorst also has the backing of the Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation, whose President Anneke van Zanen-Nieberg described him as a "true sportsman with a great passion and dedication for boxing" and "a real team player who believes in true cooperation, broad participation and sustainable collaboration".

The endorsements add to the backing van der Vorst has received from USA Boxing, whose chief executive Mike McAtee was among the Board candidates declared ineligible by the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) prior to the elections in Istanbul.

USA Boxing praised van der Vorst for his commitment to resign within 100 days if goals including the restoration of IOC financial contributions to IBA are not achieved, and within one year if boxing's inclusion at Los Angeles 2028 is not secured.

Kremlev has received support from National Federations from a wide spread of nations, and some of his supporters including Mongolia and Tajikistan have vowed to vote against holding a Presidential election in the Extraordinary Congress.

Other National Federations backing Kremlev have criticised van der Vorst for making "empty and unrealistic promises", as worded by Boxing Federation of Bahamas President Vincent Strachan.

IBA today revealed that Kremlev, who was first elected in December 2020 as President of the governing body then known as AIBA, has been cleared of three charges by the BIIU Interim Nominations Unit after allegations of a breach of campaign rules.