MOSCOW — An Uzbek businessman who has been accused of ties to organized crime was elected president of the amateur boxing federation on Saturday, putting the sport on a collision course with the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC criticized Gafur Rakhimov’s bid to become head of AIBA, and it has yet to confirm boxing is on the program for the 2020 Olympics. The IOC could host an Olympic boxing tournament without AIBA, cutting the financially troubled federation off from a key funding source.
Rakhimov beat his only challenger, former Kazakh boxer and politician Serik Konakbayev, with 86 votes out of 134 valid ballots cast.
Rakhimov is on a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list for alleged links to organized crime and international heroin trafficking. The sanctions bar U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with him. He has denied wrongdoing.