By Boxing Bob Newman
One of the highlights of every IBF convention is the annual “Meet the Champs” cocktail soire. The event at this, the 36th annual IBF convention in Macau was no different and in fact, one of the most elaborate to date. Ten world champions past and present, male and female were on hand to meet and greet the convention delegates and support the IBF.
The strongest international presence was made by Australia, which put six former champs on the stage. Former middleweight champs Daniel Geale and Sam Soliman, former bantam, super bantam and featherweight champ Jeff Fenech, former feather champ Billy Dib, former Jr. lightweight champ Barry Michael and former lightweight champ Phillip Holiday (By way of South Africa) all represented the land down under in strong fashion.
Female IBF bantamweight champ Maria Roman of Argentina and female IBF Jr. lightweight champ Maiva Hamadouche of France took a stand for the ladies in the sport. Not to be left out, the host country of China was represented by former WBC strawweight champ Chaozhong Xiong and current WBA featherweight champ Can,Xu who just defended his title two nights ago via TKO6 over former 122 lb. champ Shun Kubo. Possible future champs Fanlong Meng of China and Adam Deines of Germany were also on hand to meet the crowd ahead of their IBF light heavyweight final eliminator clash in this very ballroom Saturday night.
IBF president Daryl Peoples again paid tribute to the fantastic job IBF China has done in hosting this convention. Peoples also thanked the champions in attendance for their dedication to the IBF and for remaining part of the IBF family.
A Tai Chi master put on an amazing demonstration of the martial art form and then challenged the Aussie contingent of champs to follow along and try to mimic the movements. It was a friendly competition which IBF president Peoples was to “judge” via a 10- point must system. With a kickboxing background, it would’ve seemed Sam Soliman had the natural edge. In fact, after his turn, Sam threw in some of his own moves and did several spinning round house kicks for good measure. In a stunning upset, Peoples gave it to Phillip Holiday by a point!
A special presentation was made to birthday boy Jeff Fenech who turned 55 today. Fenech thanked the IBF and everyone on hand after being serenaded to “Happy Birthday.”
A live band performed after all the presentations were made and revelers continued enjoying the top shelf beverages and fine hors d’hoeuvres for a second night. Tomorrow will see the start of business with a general session, followed by IBF Muay Thai, the judges seminar, ratings meeting and voting for three board positions which are up for election this year.
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