The World Boxing Council has reacted to the threat of boxing being removed from the Olympics as of 2020.

The sport is under threat of being removed because the International Olympic Committee recently revealed that they are not pleased with the way that amateur boxing is currently being run by the Amateur International Boxing Association.

In response to this, the WBC and their president Mauricio Sulaiman are taking action and have just started a petition on their website that says “Yes to Boxing in Olympics”.

“Boxing is one of the six sports which created the Original Olympics in Athens,” the statement argues, “along with Pentathlon, Racing, Horseback riding, Chariots racing and Pancracio (wrestling).

“Boxing is a sport which has been practiced since 1904 in the modern Olympics. Boxing is an individual sport which provides the opportunity to conquer Olympic glory to individuals of every single country of the world.”

The statement then goes on to argue that boxing is an “honorable” sport which has given the world “countless glory moments” and has seen “national heroes” rise from Olympic competition to become world ambassadors.

"Boxing is an honorable sport which has given the world countless glory moments and has seen national heroes rise from Olympic competition to become world ambassadors."

There have been rumblings behind the scenes that the WBC would be willing to take over the running of amateur boxing from the AIBA in order to stop the sport from being removed from the Olympics, although there has been no official confirmation of this just yet.

“Olympic glory has been the platform for legendary champions such as Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Tiofilo Stevenson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar DelaHoya, Nino Benvenutti, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klishtko,” the WBC argue.

“The world boxing community unites through this petition to plead the continuation the sport of boxing in the Olympic Games.”

The decision ultimately still lays with the International Olympic Committee at this point, meaning that only time will tell what the future of amateur boxing will be.