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Although the disco hit song
‘Ain’t no stopping us now’ was
already released way back in
1979, it fits perfectly to
describe the status of the World
Boxing Federation as 2013 is
about to enter the history
books. WBF President Howard
Goldberg observed:
“Our goal was to retain our 2012
market share during this year,
but the boxing world has
responded in a most astonishing
way to the rise of the World
Boxing Federation by staging
more and more WBF title bouts
all over the planet!”.
Indeed it has, because the total
number of 78 (!) WBF-sanctioned
fights worldwide in 2013
constitutes an incredible growth
of 41,8% in comparison to 2012
(which already had a record
37,5% growth over 2011).
“That’s a clear and loud
statement that boxing wants the
WBF to be a major player and
that the sport is tired of all
the corruption, double-dealing
and silly titles of the more
established organizations,” said
South African Goldberg, clearly
referring to the WBF’s credo
‘The Fewer Titles, The More They
Are Worth!’, which describes the
organizations’ policy of
sticking to World,
Intercontinental, International
and some strictly regional
titles in contrast to ‘phantasy
belts’ like Super, Silver,
Youth, etc.
In a year which saw the II.
World Convention of the WBF –
this time staged in Saarbruecken,
Germany – the organization also
grew in territory covered, as
during 2013 Bolivia, Luxembourg,
Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand,
Spain, Switzerland and Tanzania
held their first
WBF championships since the
re-establishment of the original
World Boxing Federation in 2009.
Women’s boxing in the WBF
increased dramatically in 2013
and solidified the status of the
foremost boxing organization for
females of the World Boxing
Federation. Whereas in 2012
promoters staged 17 WBF women’s
championships, which made up for
30,9% of all WBF business, that
number skyrocketed in 2013 to an
unbelievable 28 WBF women’s
title bouts worldwide for a
healthy 35,9% of all WBF
business.
“We not only solidified our
status as market leader for
female boxing, but actually
gained new ground, just like in
any other department,” stated
WBF Women’s Boxing Chairman
Dominik Junge after his first
full calendar year in his
position.
Mind you, the WBF does not plan
to sit tight and proud upon its
success, but strive to build on
it in years to come.
“We proved we are not just here
to stay,” the South African WBF
President Goldberg closed his
year-end review, “but we are
here to challenge the system.
While we want to maintain
friendly relationships with
other organizations, at the end
of the day the WBF’s mission is
to rid this great sport of all
the nonsense and reestablish
sanity and credibility.”
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