I attended a boxing dinner
recently where I was invited to
speak about the quality of
boxing today compared with
yesteryear.
Of course the comparisons
between fighters such as Ali,
Tyson and Klitschko were
debated. Was it Mayweather,
Paquiao, Hearns, Duran, or
Leonard who would have come out
on top?
Different training methods for
the fifties, eighties and
present were also hotly
debated. And then inevitably,
the debate turned to the
different sanctioning bodies and
the ridiculous amount of
different titles offered.
I chose as I always have, to be
diplomatic, professional and
honest – something I would like
to think I have done my whole
life, and something that was
instilled into me from a very
young age. I chose rather to
present the positives of the
World Boxing Federation, as
opposed to discussing other
sanctioning bodies. I chose to
present what the World Boxing
Federation stands for and in
turn, let people draw their own
conclusions.
I spoke about the WBF as a team
of committed and passionate
boxing people. I spoke about the
transparency, honesty, integrity
and professionalism which
embodies the World Boxing
Federation. I spoke about the
limited amount of titles we
offer and about our drive to
acquire the top fighters in the
world.
I spoke too about the WBF not
being perfect, and about making
mistakes on our journey. But I
spoke also about learning from
these mistakes, acknowledging
them, and as a result, growing
stronger and bigger with that
knowledge.
Our journey is really in its
infancy and it will take time to
realize our dream in becoming
the top sanctioning body
around. There are no shortcuts
along the way, and our
objectives can only be achieved
through hard work, dedication,
trust and the building of
meaningful relationships along
the way. It’s been an exciting
journey thus far, and could well
get even more exciting and
interesting in the next few
years.
As mentioned, the building of
relationships is fundamental to
our achieving success, and it
has been wonderful in the past
few years to welcome new
countries such as China,
Philippines, Bolivia, New
Zealand or Namibia to our
continuously growing
family. There are many other
discussions taking place at the
moment and more will be revealed
in due course, suffice to say
that times for the WBF are very
exciting indeed.
Finally let me once again
congratulate our new Honorary
President Dr. Mathews Phosa on
his new appointment. I have
already met with Dr. Phosa twice
in the past two weeks and his
commitment to the WBF is evident
as is his passion to grow the
organization. Dr. Phosa, a man
of the highest order and with
integrity and dignity will
surely add value to the World
Boxing Federation.
Until next time, keep boxing.
Howard Goldberg
PRESIDENT: World Boxing
Federation
|
