The federation that wants to take the belt away from Usyk has returned Russian boxers

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) has lifted sanctions against Russian athletes and returned them to its rankings after they were expelled in February 2022. The organization allegedly made this decision in recent weeks, but has not officially commented on it.

This was reported by the propaganda news agency TASS. "Restrictions have been lifted from Russian boxers, they can be included in the ratings," a federation spokesman said.

There are indeed five Russians in the updated IBF rankings. In the lightweight division, where Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) holds the organization's championship belt, Zaur Abdullayev (19-1, 11 KOs), who has boxed only once outside of Russia, is ranked sixth.

In the middleweight division, Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) is ranked second, and three representatives of the aggressor country are ranked in the light heavyweight division - Ali Ismailov (21-15-1, 15 KOs), Imam Khatayev (7-0, 7 KOs) and Vasyl Voitsekhovsky (13-0, 7 KOs).

It should be noted that IBF President Darryl Peeples had been actively dealing with the head of Russian boxing, Umar Kremlin, at least until 2020. In early June, the IBF made an official statement regarding the deprivation of the belt of Ukrainian super champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs).

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