A detailed description of the recommended medical procedures and protocols for the safe presentation of boxing matches in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, marked the discussion of the World Boxing Association’s Directorate meeting, held online on Tuesday with the full participation of the organization’s leaders and medical committee.

With the objective of creating optimal prevention and safety guidelines that will contribute to the return to action in the short term, the president of the WBA, Gilberto Mendoza, and the members of the medical committee shared with the plenary the progress of the master document of the medical protocol designed by the Institution, which will serve as a reference for the organizers and promoters of boxing events who, in the midst of the de-escalation in their respective countries, will move forward in the organization of events, in strict compliance with the general rules dictated by their national health authorities.

As part of this initiative, the WBA Academy will hold on Saturday, May 16th, the WBA online Medical Seminar, where the main topics of the proposal will be reported and discussed. This proposal has been drawn up in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and on the basis of technical and scientific criteria and the characteristics of our sport.

The WBA aims to present one of the most comprehensive health guidelines for carrying out boxing in today’s conditions. Once it is finished, the WBA will work hand in hand with the different commissions for its application, in order to promote the health of all those involved in a boxing performance.

Medical Seminar: WBA Academy’s next step

The medical seminar is the next step among the activities of the Academy, which already had a resounding success last week with the Judges and Referees’ seminar, which had more than 150 participants. The aim now is to involve interested people, but also officials working in the national boxing commissions, who can benefit from the information.

Hopefully, once the seminar is completed, the WBA’s official health protocol will be published.

This medical seminar will focus on the impact of Covid-19 on daily boxing activity and will have first class speakers such as Shivana Inalsingh, Joseph Estwanik, Nina Radcliff, Saul Saucedo, Karanjeet Singh and Jorge Ramírez. They worked together to create the health protocol that will be announced in the next few days.

The Directorate meeting discussed important topics about boxers who have to travel to fight, and how to coordinate with local doctors for pre-fight testing. Security measures for judges and referees and all the personnel working behind closed doors were also discussed.

The board had a pleasant closing, with the presence of the singer Zandú, who performed three of his songs to everyone connected to the meeting and received applause for his great performance. Although the date of the next meeting was not set, it was scheduled to take place in about a week to update on the medical topic and to discuss other topics, such as classifications.