The 98th World Boxing Association (WBA) Convention will raise its curtain next Tuesday from Fuzhou, Jiangxi, in China. Led by the president of the organization, Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, the board of directors will make an appearance in eastern lands for a very special event.
China has been a great ally for the WBA and this will be revealed once again during six intense working days in the wonderful city north of Nanchang.
The current boxing landscape faces several very important challenges and all will be attended to by the senior staff in search of solutions that contribute to the improvement of the activity worldwide.
Different forums will address different topics presented by specialists linked to the oldest sanctioning body in the world of boxing. On Thursday, November 7th, the WBA Board Meeting will be held and headed by Mendoza in the morning hours.
Subsequently, an interview will be conducted by the renowned Argentine journalist, Carlos Irusta, of the president of the WBA. In the afternoon, Carlos Chavez will be in charge of holding the Boxer’s Safety and Welfare Forum. The day will end with a welcome dinner.
On Friday, the Opening Ceremony will be held in the morning, while in the afternoon will be the Classification Forum – directed by Julio Thyme and with the participation of George Martinez, Oliver Gomez, and Gustavo Padilla. Later that evening will be the Forum of Regional Organizations, also in charge of Thyme and with the support of Martinez, Chavez, and Aurelio Fiengo.
Friday will also feature the Information Technology Forum presented by Julio Quintero and Gilberto Echeverria, as well as the Legal and Pro/Am Forum moderated by Chavez.
Saturday will be mainly dedicated to the judges and referees, who will have several hours of intense seminars. Finally, on Sunday there will be boxing in Fuzhou composed of a fight card filled with young Chinese talent and some good foreign fighters on the rise.
Finally, on Monday the entire board and the rest of the convention participants will be removed, which will mean the official closing of the WBA Convention.
I really don’t know which was of these sanctioning bodies is more corrupt…GEESH!!
Good question!
Unfortunately, there is no solution in sight. Its surprising that we still get to see some great fights, despite these useless sanctioning bodies. Miracles do exist!
Should be a way to get rid of all these organizations and replace them with one honest one. Could happen if fighters stop giving their hard earned money in sanctioning fees for their worthless belts.
Michael: I think the fighters can’t do much, if anything, under the current conditions. It would take a major revolution to get rid of these sanctioning commissions.
To be fair, many other sports are also facing the same problem, and there are no solutions in sight either. The bigger sport events become, the bigger various sanctioning commissions become. Its about control, power and profit – that’s the way our current world is designed.
As I mentioned in various posts: the masses are easy to manipulate, and they are eager to pay for the show these commissions put on. The average Joe loves spectacles – even completely fake or fraudulent ones – and the commissions provide for them.
Greed, power hunger, corruption, etc. are practically impossible to eliminate from any sphere of today’s society.
Although I agree with you, I just can’t see a solution. Wherever there are huge profits, there is major corruption. And its not just the commissions: its also the promoters, judges, and even the “fans”.
If I think about an ideal solution, the best that comes to mind is that all match ups should be made by an unbiased computer program that calculates the best fights possible (from the lowest to the highest level). I don’t see any down side to it really. It could be easily applied on a global scale and it would eliminate a good part of the current mess. But then what do you do with the Don Kings and ODLH’s of the world?
Another factor that destroyed any integrity in the boxing world is the betting industry. If it were banned for boxing events, another huge part of corruption would be history.
Anyways, at least we can still enjoy some great and honest fights, despite all these sick influences on boxing.