|
Article By:
Alex Pierpaoli
/
billyCboxing.com
-
Ask
almost any fight fan what they
think is boxing's biggest
problem and the discussion will
very quickly turn towards the
sanctioning bodies that control
the sport. Whether it's their
rankings, their cushy
relationships with certain
promoters or nations, or the
abundance of titles, there's
plenty for a fight fan to
complain about. But as we say
goodbye to one of the best years
that boxing has seen in a while
there is also one sanctioning
body that is carving out a spot
for itself as something
refreshingly different.
Based in South Africa, the World
Boxing Federation President
Howard Goldberg expresses the
same opinions you'll hear from
diehard fans of prizefighting.
"I think the legitimate boxing
fan is becoming a little
irritated with the magnitude of
different titles and of
meaningless tiles. When you have
an interim silver title what the
hell does it mean?"
Goldberg's organization,
re-structured from top to bottom
and re-established in 2009, is
more interested in championships
that mean something to both fan
and fighter. "We have three
titles," Goldberg says. "The
World, the Intercontinental and
the Regional. Those are our
titles, full stop."
Perhaps the biggest cause of
eye-rolling for the fight-fan is
the dreaded interim title belt,
and Goldberg agrees it's not a
practice his WBF wants to
indulge in. "Under very, very
exceptional circumstances. We
have done it once, but it’s not
common practice and our policy
is not to do it…It’s not our
policy to speak poorly about
other organizations it is our
policy to be the best we can
be."
So what is it that makes the WBF
differ from the sport's alphabet
soup of sanctioning bodies?
"Transparency, honesty, trying
to bring back legitimacy to
boxing, keeping the abundance of
titles down to a minimum,"
Goldberg theorizes. "Nothing
under the table with the WBF,
what you see is what you get. We
have open rules meetings…We’re
not fickle, we’re not false. We
are honorable…That’s not to say
we’re perfect…we do need to
represent ourselves better with
promoters. We are trying to
bring back legitimacy with
boxing, we think we’ve already
done that with women and we’d
like to do it with the men."
In 2013 the WBF sanctioned 28
women's championship bouts and
in November Jennifer Salinas
defeated Yolis Franco to win the
WBF Super Bantamweight Title in
Bolivia and what followed was
nothing short of thrilling.
"We had a show with 15,000
people," Goldberg exclaimed.
"Afterwards, she walked in the
street with her belt around her
waist with about 3 thousand
people following her." And it is
that sort of connection with the
public that boxing benefits from
tremendously.
It is in the rating of fighters
where sanctioning bodies often
open themselves up to criticism.
Nothing gets a fight-fan's blood
boiling like when unheralded
fighters suddenly receive choice
positions in the rankings
because of their political
connections rather than due to
fistic merit. But the WBF stands
firm against such occurrences.
"We use BoxRec which is
independent and we sometimes use
the IBO ratings because they are
independent. What we do is go
mainly by BoxRec…we don’t want
people to come to us asking for
favors. We don’t want
manipulations of ratings for
certain promoters. We want
objectivity…There’s no
manipulation, no favors, it is
what it is."
The issue of fighter safety is
another that Goldberg treats
with the utmost seriousness,
especially in a year like 2013
when heavyweight Magohmed
Abdulsalamov and featherweight
Jose Carmona were permanently
disabled in high profile bouts
and Frankie Leal died due to
injuries suffered in a
prize-fight in October.
Goldberg described The
Punishment Index as a method
used on the African continent to
gauge the amount of damage a
fighter sustains in each bout
and one that works well when
sensible, competent officials
are using it. In each fight the
amount of punishment a fighter
sustains is given a score and
depending on the successive
damage taken in fights, a boxer
can be sent to undergo a brain
scan or be forced to take time
off from fighting and sparring
to recover from really damaging
brutal fights.
"We do believe in the Punishment
Index," Goldberg explains.
"There should be
monitoring…especially those who
lose weight dramatically before
a fight. Most of the time it’s
fighters who dehydrate and lose
the fluid around the brain[who
suffer serious damage]. The
world needs to tighten up on
regulations. I’d rather be
proactive than reactive. The
fact of the matter is that
boxing is a brutal sport, it’s a
tough sport and people know that
when they get involved."
Goldberg believes that so much
of the danger inherent in boxing
can be reduced, but never
entirely eliminated, by having
attentive, humane cornermen and
excellent referees.
"The bottom line is we need
sensible people in the corners
who have their fighter’s best
interest—medical best
interest—at heart."
Over the years, Goldberg has
worked in the sport in numerous
capacities and on one occasion
as a referee he stopped a fight
when one boxer was receiving too
much punishment. "After six or
seven rounds of one-sided
traffic I went to the corner and
said this fight is over. They
looked at me and said what are
you talking about? You’ve lost
every round badly without really
being hurt…his face was a total
mess…That corner was very cross
at the time but the next day
they thanked me for stopping the
fight."
For Goldberg, being proactive
rather than reactive in the area
of fighter safety is an absolute
must, even when it comes down to
how he advises the referees in
WBF contests.
"You stop the fight too soon
rather than too late," Goldberg
instructs them. "If you stop a
fight too soon and the public
wants to hang you I’ll handle
it…If you stop it too early I
will back you, if you stop it
too late I won't back you."
The WBF works as hard as
possible to insure that the
utmost in medical attention is
paid to the fighters despite the
inherent risk in such a bruising
contact sport.
"My first question is, are the
fighters licensed…do they have
insurance in case anything
happens? Do you have an
ambulance at the event, without
an ambulance we don’t go ahead.
Have you consulted the nearest
neurosurgical hospital to let
them know?
What I do is I personally phone
the hospital to double-check.
Are you aware there is a boxing
event happening. In the event of
something happening are you
ready…We try to be as cautious
as we can."
Boxing will always have fights
that end tragically and bouts
that leave the combatants
permanently damaged but
Goldberg's goal is to reduce the
chances of such things to a
minimum.
"It’s no different from rock
climbing," Goldberg describes.
"You’ve got these crazy guys who
climb these straight mountains.
Well, they’ve got equipment now
which is incredibly expensive
and incredibly safe but there
are fatalities on the mountain.
So boxing is the same. It’s a
dangerous sport, we know that.
But let’s put the equipment into
place and make it as safe as we
can knowing that occasionally
something is not going to go 100
percent correctly."
As to its president, the WBF's
Howard Goldberg comes to boxing
after working as a primary
school principal and in his
youth he was a talented chess
player. The connection between
the strategy applied in chess as
compared to the sweet science is
certainly not one that is lost
on him.
"It’s a very strategic sport,
boxing. You need to counter
styles… it’s not just about
punching it’s about thinking…If
he leads with a jab how am I
going to counter it. Absolutely,
there’s a connection." Goldberg
is also aware of the affinity
both Klitschko brothers have for
the game of chess and joked
about his prospects against the
Ukrainian heavies and
challenging either of them to a
game.
"If I beat you at chess,"
Goldberg postulated jokingly,
"will you fight for our title?
They’re quite good players but
in my youth I was a good
player."
Based in South Africa, the WBF
is front and center for a lot of
exceptional boxing talent.
Currently, in the cruiserweight
division alone there are 3 South
African boxers in the top dozen
fighters in the world. And
fighters like flyweight Moruti
Mthalane and featherweight
Simpiwe Vetyeka are South
Africans who made significant
gains in 2013.
"South Africa has great
fighters," Goldberg said. "The
sad thing about South Africa is
that we’ve got terrible
administrators…If we can get our
administration right in South
Africa it will be great but
that’s easier said than done."
South Africa is certainly not
alone in laying claim to its
share of terrible administrators
but as to the administration of
professional prizefighting, the
World Boxing Federation is
changing what people think about
sanctioning bodies.
|
