WBO Leads Expansion of World Boxing Titles

The multitude of world boxing organizations is a cause for much confusion among fans of the sport around the world. There are many titles to go around in the jurisdictions of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the International Boxing Organization (IBO), the World Boxing Federation (WBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO)

Then, there is Ring Magazine, the Commonwealth Boxing Council and the many offshoots of the world organizations. One has to constantly check to be updated who’s who in the various listings.

There is a great expansion going on in boxing. There are those who feel the sport is being watered down due to the many champions in each weight categories. Others point to the increased popularity of the sport throughout Europe, Africa and now Asia.

The case can easily be made that boxing now enjoys more worldwide prominence than ever before. No longer is North America, with the United States as the anchor nation, the dominant boxing area of the world.

Once to put on a really big boxing show, promoters had to go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City in the United States. In Europe, few major boxing events took place outside Great Britain.

Now, the rest of Europe has caught up. The Klitschko brothers (Vitali and Wladimir) show no interest in boxing in North America. They are huge names all over Europe and draw crowds wherever they fight even without the venue being in Great Britain.

There is indeed a more balanced world culture for boxing. The view here is that the WBO is doing a great job in feeding this diversity for the betterment of boxing. While other world organizations seem still to be concentrating primarily on North America, the WBO has a strong focus on Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Our very own Sherman “Tank” Williams is one of the beneficiaries of the new marketing template of the WBO. He now reigns as the supreme heavyweight over WBO Asia, inclusive of the vast China Zone of which the Macau Province is a part, thus the three titles he won recently from Chauncy Welliver.

According to the WBO website, the objective is to create substantive opportunities for more boxers.

“In the last decade, the WBO has established many regional titles, enriching the world of boxing with a variety of outstanding possibilities that allow the champions an opportunity to reach a world championship title. This variety enables boxers to achieve their goals and excellence, while reaching World Class statures”.

Thanks to the WBO’s world initiative, Williams now has a great opportunity to reach new boxing heights. Istvan Kovacs of Hungary is the chairman of the WBO. He and his associates are doing a wonderful job.

By: Fred Sturrup

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