Irish boxing's Olympic future is on the line next month when the IABA holds a second vote on joining World Boxing. Niall O’Carroll, the chair of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, yesterday informed the association's membership of 352 clubs that a letter of intent will shortly be sent to World Boxing about joining the new body.The International Olympic Council will vote in Greece today on including the sport at the 2028 Games in LA. The IOC's executive board has already recommended that the vote be passed after provisionally recognising World Boxing.There were major fears that the sport would be shut out of the Games after the International Boxing Association was stripped of recognition two years ago due to governance and finance issues.World Boxing has 84 federations signed up, with several more European bodies now signalling their intention to follow suit. However the IABA has yet to recognise World Boxing, with a vote 18 months ago falling just short of the 75% needed to change. Ireland's clubs are all voting members of the IABA and a quorum for an EGM is 60 clubs."Whilst I am flagging our intention to join World Boxing, the ultimate decision on this will be in the hands of the members as I have stated since our first vote in August 2023," O'Carroll wrote to the clubs."We will host another EGM in April to give the members the final say. Our constitution needs to be amended to ensure we have control of our future with regard to membership of any international federation we choose. "In order for us to achieve constitutional change we will need a positive vote by 75% of our member clubs attending. Our Olympic future is at stake. While it is expected this week that boxing will be officially added to the competition schedule for LA28, it will be the case that any federation still connected to IBA will not be included. "It is my duty as chairperson to ensure the long-term future of boxing in Ireland. Losing our Olympic status would be devastating for us all. Equally my ambition is that we move forward together. This move has been signed-off by our elected representatives in the officer board and Central Council. "We are embarking on a period of change for the organization. I am hoping these changes will benefit all our members through competitive clarity and greater financial support to our clubs."This is possibly the most important decision our clubs will ever face. I ask one question - do you want to be the person who ends Boxing’s rich history as Ireland’s most successful ever sport? The ultimate decision will be yours." In his correspondence to the clubs, O'Donovan also addressed what he said was misinformation about making the switch to World Boxing. He pointed out that the only western European countries who haven't signed up are Ireland, Spain and Portugal and he dismissed claims that there would be no competition for young Irish boxers in World Boxing.O'Carroll reminded that the IABA's central council wrote to the IBA on January 17, applying for dual membership, while 61 other federations did not have to apply."If IBA haven’t sanctioned all of the countries that have already created their own dual membership situation, what ground would they have for sanctioning us," he wrote. "Also, as the IOC have dictated that all Olympic countries have to leave IBA, exactly what competition will we have once those countries leave? "IBA have recently told us that they will make a decision at their board meeting during the Women's World Championships. As we can see from the judging decisions at that championships it would seem our boxers are clearly being punished. As of now no outcome has been communicated to us from the IBA post championships on our application." O'Carroll stressed: "IBA are the only sporting federation to ever be expelled from the IOC, there is no Olympic path back. Ask the kids who are currently boxing in your clubs what their ultimate ambition is. They’ll say Olympic gold. "We have significant leverage with our political paymasters because of our success at the Olympics. We are Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport. "The potential for the growth of the number of boxers in each and every club is increased by our participation in the Olympics. The potential for revenue generation is massively increased by our participation in the Olympics - it is the only time when Boxing gets fair coverage by our media. "If we remove the infighting and start pulling in the same direction the possibility of raising sponsorship and new streams of revenue is massively increased." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.