Fact Check: Musk didn't threaten to withdraw support to boxing organization over Imane Khelif
Claim:
Elon Musk threatened to withdraw support to the World Boxing Organization if it did not revoke a championship title and $25 million in prize money it had awarded to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.
Rating:
In February 2025, an old claim about tech billionaire Elon Musk threatening "to withdraw all support" for the World Boxing Organization re-emerged on Facebook. These posts asserted that Musk, now a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, demanded that the WBO revoke a championship title and prize money it had awarded Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. Khelif became the target of attacks about her gender during the 2024 Olympics.
The claim, which has been around since at least November 2024, saw new light in early 2025 as Musk's work with the Department of Government Efficiency ramped up.
The claim is false. For one thing, Khelif has never won a WBO title. She has won (and has had revoked) championship title events sanctioned by the International Boxing Association. The gold medal she won at the 2024 Olympics was governed by the International Olympic Committee. Neither the WBO nor the IOC gives out prize money.
Further, Snopes could not identify any evidence that Musk or the U.S. government has provided any "support" for the WBO that could, in fact, be withdrawn. The WBO is one of several bodies that sanction professional boxing matches. It is a private organization based in Puerto Rico. Musk, at the time of this reporting, has no live social media post mentioning the WBO.
In October 2024, the WBO pushed back against similar claims that the organization had disqualified Khelif from competing in its events. In a news release, it wrote:
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) informed that it had not tested, nor had it banned female boxer Imane Khelif, who won a gold medal during the boxing tournament of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
"The report claiming that the WBO had banned Khelif are obviously false. We have had no communication with Khelif. We congratulate her and wish her luck in all her future endeavors", said WBO legal counsel Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. today. "Any report stating otherwise is obviously fake and ill intentioned."
Because there is no WBO championship title issued to Khelif that could be revoked, and because there is no evidence of any support to the WBO from Musk or any governmental entity that could be rescinded, the claim is false.
"Disinformation Claims Elon Musk Demanded The Annulment Of Imane Khalif's Medal And Bonus | Mythdetector.Com." 10 Feb. 2025, https://mythdetector.com/en/disinformation-claims-elon-musk-demanded/.
"Home." WBO, https://www.wboboxing.com/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
"Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif Fights Back as Boxing Association Files Suit in Gender Row." NBC News, 12 Feb. 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/olympic-boxer-imane-khelif-fights-back-boxing-association-files-suit-g-rcna191917.
O'Rourke, Ciara. "Claim about Elon Musk, Imane Khelif Is False." @politifact, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/dec/05/facebook-posts/no-elon-musk-didnt-threaten-to-withdraw-support-of/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
WBO. "REPORTS THAT THE WBO HAS BANNED BOXER IMANE KHELIF ARE FALSE." WBO, 10 Oct. 2024, https://www.wboboxing.com/boxing-news/reports-that-the-wbo-has-banned-boxer-imane-khelif-are-false/.
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