Umar Kremlev, the International Boxing Association (IBA) president, spent two days with Donald Trump Jr. at a remote Mongolian hunting camp in late August, according to a Financial Times investigation published Oct. 27, 2026. The FT story puts a spotlight back on the IBA boxing Kremlev oversees, a federation the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pushed out of the Olympic movement three years ago.
Where it stands: As of Oct. 28, boxing is on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Games under a rival body, World Boxing, and the IBA has no Olympic role. No IBA statement on the FT story had been reported as of that date.
Per the FT, Kremlev left its questions unanswered, as did Arthur Martirosov, the Russian businessman the paper says traveled with him. Trump Jr.’s spokesperson told the paper the two men share “a personal friendship, not a business relationship,” and that a mutual friend from the hunting world introduced them.
What remains of the IBA boxing Kremlev oversees?
A federation that still stages its own events but sits outside the Olympics. The IOC withdrew its recognition in June 2023, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the top tribunal for sports disputes, upheld that move in April 2024.
According to the FT, Kremlev became head of Russia’s national boxing federation in 2017 and won the IBA presidency in 2020. The federation’s own summary of that December 2020 virtual congress says he won in the fourth round of voting with 86 votes, a 57.33% share.
IBA business framed the trip on both ends, by the FT’s account. The paper reported that on Aug. 27 he left an IBA press conference in Kazakhstan, took a chartered jet overnight to Ulaanbaatar and then went west to the camp. After two days there, the FT said, he flew back to the capital and on to another IBA fight in Yakutsk, in Siberia.
Their first public link was also an IBA event. The FT described the 2025 Istanbul gathering as the two men’s “first known encounter,” where Trump Jr. called Kremlev “not only a leader, but a friend.”
Why did the IOC expel the International Boxing Association?
The IOC said the federation had not fixed long-running problems with governance, money and the integrity of judging. Those concerns began before Kremlev arrived.
In 2019 the IOC suspended the body, then known as AIBA, after an inquiry Sky Sports described as six months long into its finances, governance and refereeing standards. Because of that suspension, the IOC itself ran the boxing tournaments at Tokyo and again at Paris 2024, according to the IOC announcement reproduced by Sport Resolutions.
The final break came at an IOC Session held remotely in June 2023, which invoked Rule 3.7 of the Olympic Charter to end the federation’s recognition. Reporting on the session, England Boxing said IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper told members the IBA had failed to deal with corruption, with its finances, and with how bouts are refereed and judged.
ProPublica later noted that the IOC had also faulted the IBA for refusing to “transparently explain the sources of its financing,” as well as its reliance at the time “on a single state-owned company.”
The IBA rejected the decision. “We have successfully implemented all recommendations outlined by the IOC in its roadmap,” it said, calling the vote “catastrophic for global boxing.”
What did the sport’s top court decide?
CAS dismissed the IBA’s appeal in April 2024, Reuters reported. The panel found the federation had not improved financial transparency or overhauled its process for referees and judges.
In its statement, CAS said “these three elements justified the IOC Session’s decision to withdraw recognition of the IBA.”
Leadership disputes had added to the friction. In May 2022, the Associated Press reported, members re-elected Kremlev by acclamation two days after an independent vetting panel removed his only challenger, Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands. CAS ruled that June that van der Vorst should have been allowed to run, but an IBA congress in Yerevan voted that September against holding a fresh election. “I am working for you, not a side organization,” Kremlev told delegates through a translator, the AP reported.
What role did Gazprom money play at the IBA?
A large one, for a period. Russia’s state-controlled gas company sponsored the federation after Kremlev took charge, and the IOC later faulted the IBA’s dependence on a single state-owned company.
The FT said Kremlev arrived at the IBA with a large sponsorship from state-backed Gazprom. ProPublica reported that the company put “tens of millions of dollars” into the federation. Gazprom was named the federation’s general partner in 2021, and that deal lapsed when 2022 ended, per the Kyiv Independent.
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Kremlev’s press office told ProPublica the Gazprom contract “expired long ago.” Earlier, in 2022, the AP reported that he had won support inside the sport for paying off millions of dollars in IBA debts, “seemingly from a single Russian source.”
How did World Boxing replace the IBA at the Olympics?
World Boxing, formed in 2023 as a breakaway from the IBA, won provisional IOC recognition in February 2025 and was named the body in charge of boxing for LA28 a month later.
The AP reported the IOC board’s provisional recognition of the new group in late February 2025. An IOC text published by USA Boxing said World Boxing then counted 84 national federations across five continents.
At its 144th Session in March 2025, the IOC put boxing on the Los Angeles program. World Boxing said those decisions made it responsible for both the qualification pathway and the tournament itself. Its president is van der Vorst, the candidate barred from the 2022 IBA vote, who said Olympic membership is “a privilege and a responsibility and not a right,” according to The Irish Times.
Kremlev has pushed back publicly. After the January 2025 inauguration, ProPublica reported, he wrote an open letter asking President Trump to look into the IOC’s conduct before the Los Angeles Games, saying he hoped to work together to “make the Olympic movement great again.”
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2019 | IOC suspends the federation, then called AIBA |
| Dec. 2020 | Kremlev elected president in round four |
| May 2022 | Re-elected by acclamation |
| June 2023 | IOC Session withdraws recognition |
| April 2024 | CAS dismisses the IBA appeal |
| Feb. 2025 | World Boxing gets provisional recognition |
| March 2025 | Boxing added to LA28 under World Boxing |
| Aug. 2026 | FT: Kremlev flies from an IBA event to Mongolia |
Is the IBA or Kremlev under US sanctions?
No designation of either appears in US records cited by reporters. ProPublica stated that Kremlev “does not appear on public U.S. sanction lists,” and no sanctions listing of the IBA itself has been reported. Ukraine has sanctioned Kremlev personally, according to the Kyiv Independent and ProPublica.
The sanctions link in the FT story runs through Martirosov, whom the paper described as a partner in Voskhod, “a US-sanctioned venture capital fund.” The legally designated party is Voskhod Management Company, which the State Department designated on May 19, 2023, describing it as the manager of a venture fund set up by Interros, a company the US had already designated. That release does not name Martirosov, and the FT is the only outlet that has reported on his role; other outlets had not independently confirmed it as of Oct. 28.
More on the people involved: who Umar Kremlev is, what the Voskhod designation covers, and what the FT reported about the Mongolia trip.
As of Oct. 28, 2026, World Boxing remains the federation responsible for the LA28 boxing tournament.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the IBA kicked out of the Olympics?
In June 2023 IOC members, meeting as the Session, removed the IBA’s recognition, citing unresolved problems with governance, finances and the integrity of refereeing and judging. The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the IBA appeal in April 2024.
Who runs Olympic boxing now?
World Boxing, a federation founded in 2023 as a breakaway from the IBA. The IOC gave it provisional recognition in February 2025 and in March 2025 put boxing on the LA28 program with World Boxing in charge of qualification and the tournament.
Is Umar Kremlev still president of the IBA?
Yes. He was first elected in December 2020 and re-elected by acclamation in May 2022. The FT described him as IBA president in its October 27 report on his August trip to Mongolia.
Is the International Boxing Association sanctioned by the US?
No US sanctions designation of the IBA has been reported, and ProPublica says Kremlev does not appear on public US sanction lists. Ukraine has sanctioned Kremlev personally.
Does Gazprom still sponsor the IBA?
The Kyiv Independent reported that the Gazprom sponsorship began as a general partnership in 2021 and lapsed when 2022 ended. His press office has told ProPublica the contract expired long ago.
Sources
- Inside Donald Trump Jr’s Mongolian hunting trip with a Kremlin-linked businessman — Financial Times, October 27, 2026
- AIBA Congress 2020 Summary: the new President and Constitution — International Boxing Association, December 2020
- IOC Session withdraws International Boxing Association recognition — Sport Resolutions (reproducing the IOC announcement), June 22, 2023
- International Olympic Committee withdraws recognition of IBA — England Boxing, June 22, 2023
- CAS rejects IBA’s appeal in new decision — Reuters (via Gulf Times), April 3, 2024
- IOC suspends Olympic boxing body AIBA ahead of Tokyo 2020 — Sky Sports, May 22, 2019
- IOC questions Olympic boxing leadership after international federation’s election — Associated Press (via CBC), May 14, 2022
- Boxing body won’t hold new election, damaging Olympic hopes — Associated Press (via Yahoo), September 25, 2022
- Trump says son reimbursed Russian oligarch who funded wedding celebrations — Kyiv Independent, September 18, 2026
- Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin — ProPublica, September 14, 2026
- Boxing nears its spot on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic program as IOC recognizes new body — Associated Press (via KSL), February 26, 2025
- IOC Executive Board Puts Boxing Forward to the IOC Session for Inclusion at LA28 — USA Boxing, March 17, 2025
- World Boxing welcomes decision by IOC to include boxing at LA28 — World Boxing, March 2025
- World Boxing granted IOC recognition as sport takes step towards LA Olympics — The Irish Times, February 26, 2025
- United States Imposes Additional Sanctions and Export Controls on Russia — U.S. Department of State, May 19, 2023
This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.