Mendoza enters 3rd year as head of the WBA

Gilberto Jesús Mendoza is celebrating two years as the head of the World Boxing Association (WBA). He was unanimously elected, on December 14, 2015, at the WBA 94th Convention, which was held in Panama City. Mendoza, who has devoted much of his life to boxing, has vowed to reduce the number of champions per division that the WBA has, and emphasized that this change would not be made from one day to another.

In December 2015, the organization had 42 champions and it currently has 25 champions. Resolutions are constantly emitted from the Championships Committee to carry out mandatory fights in order to obtain one champion per division.

In addition, the President of the WBA has also worked to demonstrate that boxing is a vehicle for social improvement. For this purpose, he has made multiple visits to foster homes, has given donations to boxing gyms, motivational speeches to young athletes in different countries and, one of the most tangible contributions, was the visit to La Honda neighborhood in Medellin, Colombia, where he was accompanied by: Óscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Cervantes “Kid Pambelé”, Ricardo “Finito” López, among other great champions.

Now, the body’s commitment is to continue with the reduction of titles and, also, to go to the universities to give a scientific and academic character to the preparation of trainers, athletes and specialists in boxing. Also, to advance in medical research to protects boxers even more.