According to Rebecca Gibson, the Amateur Boxing Association of England's national women's boxing development manager, the IOC will have to put forward a "really good reason not to allow women to compete at the Olympics".
Britain's first licensed female boxer, Jane Couch, says Olympic boxing for women would be a major step forward.
Couch, the first woman to gain a professional licence from the British Boxing Board of Control in 1997, told Telegraph Sport: "There was no amateur boxing and I had to go straight into the pro game. It would have made a massive difference in my career."
Couch did it the hard way, 42 fights with 27 title fights, many of those abroad against vastly more experienced opponents.
She said: "Being a young woman and an Olympic boxer could only be a great thing.
"Such an event generates huge publicity, and, if you can win a medal or gain projection, it would allow you to launch a career, as many men have done on the back of winning an Olympic medal."
By some accounts, positive noises have emanated from IOC president Jacques Rogge ahead of Thursday's decision. But it is by no means clear cut.
Although women's participation has increased to 120 global federations, that figure masks the fact that many of those federations have only a clutch of boxers.
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