By David Finger

Day two of the 37th Annual WBO Convention kicked off Tuesday morning at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico and after the attendees introduced themselves business kicked off with some special guest speakers. After the opening ceremony, roll call, introductions and the invocation, the WBO presented a short video honoring some of the notable WBO members who passed away since the last convention. Alfonso Munera Cabas passed await at the age of 96 on December 21, 2023 in Cartagena, Colombia. He was the first vice president of the WBO and was a “fundamental part of the beginnings and growth of the organization” according the a statement made by the WBO on Twitter/X back in December. His loss was deeply felt by all members of the WBO, having emerged as a familiar face at the conventions.

But just as deeply felt was the passing of Jorge Molina in Buenos Aries, Argentina back in December as well. Molina was the head of WBO Latino and was nothing short of a legend in the boxing community in Latin America. Under his leadership, the WBO Latino was renowned as the breeding ground of future world champions. Perhaps no other regional belt was as successful as WBO Latino was in developing their regional champions into world champions, and it was for this reason, as well as Molina’s professionalism, that led to WBO Latino establishing themselves as arguably the most sought after regional championship belt in the sport. Molina, who also headed the Argentine Boxing Federation, was 81 at the time of his death.

Also remembered was Dr. Michael Gonzalez, who tragically passed away in July after complications from knee surgery. Gonzalez was well remembered for his exceptional presentation on “physiological optimization in boxing” last year at the WBO Congress in Punta Cana and his passing was a shock not only to those in the WBO but also in the medical community across the globe. Gonzalez was regarded as a “pioneering scientist and advocate” by the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine, and had authored numerous books on topics such as orthomolecular cancer treatment. The final memorandum was for Ramon Cerdan, a judge from Argentina who had worked on some of the most noteworthy WBO championship fights in recent memory such as Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko and Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn. He was described by the WBO as a “true ambassador for boxing, a sport he loved and defended with passion.” Cerdan passed away in August of this year.

From there the guest speakers kicked off, with several medical professionals giving presentations on topics of great importance to the WBO and boxing in general. Dr. Jorge Miranda-Massari, who last year did the aforementioned presentation with Dr. Gonzalez, did an exceptional presentation on Scientific Advances n Competitive Boxing. Much of the presentation discussed the importance of nutrition in the sport of boxing, but the presentation went much deeper than just the standard “boxers should eat healthy” that many boxers and trainers live by. Recognizing what factors have negative impacts on metabolic optimization, Dr. Miranda-Massari’s presentation was not only a valuable tool for boxing professionals, but also a wake up call for many in attendance who may have been guilty of some of the bad habits that were not as obvious but also had a detrimental impact on health.

The next presentation was by Dr. Rosalina Valcarcel, who gave a presentation entitled “Genetics in Science”, which focused on the growing issue of gender in the sport of boxing. In particular the recent emergence of fighters who may be technically classified as male fighting in women’s boxing. It was a candid and informative presentation, with the discussion including the controversy surrounding the 2024 Rio Olympics and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. Khelif was raised as a woman and had always identified as a woman but was prohibited from competing in the 2023 IBA Women’s Boxing Championship in New Delhi after a blood test indicated that she “didn’t match the eligibility criteria for IBA women’s events” per the IBA’s website. The issue would become a major international controversy when she was allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics (eventually winning a gold medal) despite the fact that there was at least one organization that raised some questions about her eligibility. It would become a politically charged issue, but Dr. Valcarcel removed the political talking points and spoke about the medical factors that needed to be considered when evaluating gender in boxing. The discussion was also an opportunity to clear up the disinformation that had been circulating about the issue, such as the recent allegation that the WBO issued a lifetime ban of Khelif and stripped her of her gold medal, which the WBO had already dismissed as “obviously false.” But having former AIBA Secretary General Istavan “Koko” Kovacs present, who is a WBO member and who heads WBO Europe, was also an opportunity for some light to be shed on the previous position of the IBA, and a chance to address the allegation that the ban was somehow orchestrated by Russia to remove an Algerian and Chinese fighter from competing in the Women’s Boxing Championship.

After Dr. Valcarcel’s presentation, there was a brief presentation from John and Marina Sheppard of Boxrec.com. Both Sheppards undoubtedly remember the reception they received in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the WBC convention. It was in Uzbekistan where the WBC voted to end their association with the website over their refusal to recognize the newly created bridgerweight division. But Boxrec found a much warmer reception from WBO President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel.

“We want you to know we support Boxrec 100%,” Valcarcel said.

When asked by President Valcarcel what the criteria was for recognizing titles, Sheppard expressed frustration and difficulties at the growing number of championships and the technical difficulties involved with recognizing all of those titles on Boxrec.

“We reached the stage where we had more titles in the system than boxers,” Sheppard added. “There was more title fights potentially than we had boxers in the system and it would be two or three times a week a new sanctioning body or an existing sanctioning body would say we thought of a new title, please put it into the system. This was causing us some difficulty with the commissions.”

Valcarcel added the WBO would continue to oppose a bridgerweight division, noting that “we don’t want a new cruiserweight division. Cruiserweight is probably the worst division in boxing,” before adding that “we don’t need more divisions.”

In response to the statement from Valcarcel, John Sheppard went on to clarify that their website’s opposition to recognizing the bridgerweight division was not a decision they made due to their own personal views but based on what he felt was the view of the sport in general.

“We are agnostic,” Sheppard said of his position on the bridgerweight division, “if the sport of boxing decides we need a new division then will add a new division. We can’t lead. We follow. We follow the sport. It’s not our place to create new divisions.”

However, during questions from attendees, Sheppard had more difficulty defending their decision to delist and scrub all WBA world title fights from their public website after the WBA ended its association with the website and began a partnership with a newly emerging rival that, Sheppard claims, has stolen much of the information that had been collected over the years on Boxrec.

One of the most vocal online critics of Boxrec’s decision to scrub the WBA from its website was Rachel Donaire, wife of former WBA champion Nonito Donaire who saw her husband’s Boxrec page purged of his WBA championships.

“For me and my kids, when they saw their dad win titles and then for you to erase that on your website, it’s a little personal,” Donaire said of the decision by Boxrec.

In response to Donaire’s question, Sheppard tried to pass the buck to the WBA.

“It was very upsetting for us as well when they decided they didn’t want us to be their record keeper, but that was their choice.”

Other, at times heated, questions followed from at least one other member in attendance. But in the end, as was expected, the situation between the WBA and Boxrec would find no resolution at the WBO convention.

After lunch, another medical presentation kicked off by Dr. Juan Carlos Devia Ramos, who did a well received presentation entitled “Impact on Weight Cutting in Boxers.”

From there the regional vice presidents would follow with their reports. Although treasurer Adolfo Flores Monge was unable to attend this year’s convention due to an illness, his report was adopted by the WBO members and voted on. This was followed by Richard De Cuir’s NABO report. De Cuir commented that the NABO sanctioned 17 title fights since the last convention, a slight increase over the previous three years. Revenue also went up significantly, with the WBO bringing in $116,795, in increase of almost $30,000 from the previous year and over twice as much as was collected in 2021 during the height of the COVID pandemic. There was also a discussion about possibly addressing the fees associated with an NABO title belt, noting that some promoters have balked at the cost of the sanctioning fees. But De Cuir nonetheless recognized that the prestige of the NABO mandates a slightly higher sanctioning fee than some of the other belts that may be available to a promoter.

Following the NABO report, a brief report on the finances of the WBO followed before Istavan “Koko” Kovacs did his presentation on WBO Europe. Kovas noted the strength of the WBO brand in Europe and it was also discussed how Kovacs will be named president of the Hungarian Boxing Federation next week.

Leon Panoncillo continued his streak of being arguably the busiest man in boxing as he went over the whirlwind activity of the WBO Asia Pacific, WBO Africa, WBO International, and WBO Oriental, all of which he runs. WBO Asia Pacific brought in an impressive $68,570 of revenue from 24 title fights since the last convention. For WBO Asia Pacific women’s boxing, the number was $22,750 for 10 title fights, and WBO Asia Pacific also brought in an additional $8,900 over four fights for the Asia Pacific Youth title. WBO International brought in $81,799 over thirteen title fights in men’s boxing, and $14,250 over six title fights in women’s boxing. WBO Oriental brought in $37,750 over 14 title fights and WBO Africa brought in $32,520 over 12 fights since the last convention. Panoncillo also discussed WBOs growing reputation and strength in Japan, a country that was not always a receptive location for the WBO. He also discussed an unexpected curveball with the WBO “China Zone” regional belt, noting that the Chinese government has prohibited sanctioning organizations from using the word “China” in their titles. This prohibition applies to other sanctioning bodies as well, but will require the WBO to evaluate how they want to move forward with the former China Zone belt.

Marion Palatin then gave her report on the WBO female championships, noting that there were 10 female world title fights since the last convention, with ten in Europe, eight in the USA, two in Asia, and one in South America. The female titles brought in $103,344 in revenue for the WBO.

Vice President Enrique Mendoza Sanchez read the Championship Committee Report on behalf of Luis Bautista Salas, followed by Jesuan Letizia, who gave the report on WBO Latino. WBO Latino was a recognized giant in the world of regional boxing belts under the leadership of the late, great Jorge Molina. But under former Molina protege Letizia it looks like the organization is in extremely competent hands and will continue its domination. WBO Latino sanctioned twenty title fights since the last convention, and since its creation an eye popping fifty four Latino champions would go on to win a world title, including two fighters in 2024 (Isaac Cruz and Rene Santiago). In total, eight WBO Latino Champions would fight for a world title since the last convention, one of the most impressive rates of return in the sport of boxing.

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