Report/Photos by Boxing Bob Newman

Dual functions took place this morning during the 49th NABF convention in San Diego. While referees were meeting in the Santa Fe room, committee reports were being held across the hall in the California Ball Room.

9:00 a.m. saw the start of the referee seminar, led by veteran Las Vegas ref Jay Nady. The seminar served as an official ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions) referee training certification. After several video presentations, rules reviews and discussion, attending referees were able to re-certify by taking the ABC exam.

At 9:30, several reports were given, including the ratings (Tommy Ashy), USNBC (Misty Moravec) and Female division (Deb Hawkins).

A lively discussion then ensued regarding the location of the next NABF convention. There has been recommendation for the last few years to head to Montreal as Canada is one of the three member countries of the NABF, along with the USA and Mexico. It was reiterated that a well done convention in Montreal will require two years planning rather than one. However, each year goes by and that point seems to have been overlooked or forgotten. So a concerted effort will be made to put Montreal on the 2019 convention map, with early planning starting now. As for 2018, Mexico is looking the obvious host country, as the USA has hosted the last four consecutive conventions. Cancun is the likely lead candidate, but other cities have been mentioned including Guadalajara and Acapulco. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman will be involved in that process.

While many convention delegates will no doubt be looking to catch the ESPN telecast of the Pacquiao-Horn fight, at the same time WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman will be throwing out the first pitch at Petco Stadium for the San Diego Padres – Los Angeles Dodgers game at 7 p.m. Several tickets for that have been snapped up by conventioneers, this one included! ESPN2 is scheduled to air the replay of the fight immediately after the ESPN airing concludes, so all is good.