WBC convention closes in Baku

Report/Photos: Boxing Bob Newman

The WBC 55th annual convention in n Baku, Azerbaijan officially came to a close today after a morning session of final reports, more awards and announcements.

Various awards were given out including:
Couple of the Year- Sampson & Ketty Lewkowicz
Commission of the Year- GAB (Games and Amusement Board- Philippines)
WBC Champion Award- Jon Fernandez for winning the WBC Silver Super Feather title 9/29/17
WBC Champion Award- Paulie Malignaggi (WBC convention master of ceremonies)
Good Fellow Award- Charlie Giles (BBBofC)

Rex Walker delivered the WBC Youth report, while Malte Michaelis delivered an extensive female division report. The WBC will not yield on the attempt from outside forces to increase female round lengths to 3 minutes and title fight lengths to 12 rounds. The third WBC female convention has been proposed to be held in Germany in the Summer of 2018, and possibly go to an every-other-year format.

Boxu Potts, Joel Campusano and Hector Hernandez teamed up to deliver a joint report on the status of the WBC amateur program. Campusano’s home state of Illinois approved a WBC sanctioned tournament, shooting down an attempt by USA Boxing to block such a tournament which wouldn’t be held under their oversight. The WBC also is fighting to return amateur boxing back to the use of head gear which was not sued in the last Olympics.

Paul Wallace, M.D., delivered the medical board report. A special guest- Christopher Giza, PhD., had spoken at the medical meeting on injury guidelines, refueling the injured brain. New findings have been made concerning alternative methods of administering keytones and lactate, rather than Glucose as was previously the accepted norm for a fighter with a head injury. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman also suggested a teaming up of the medical board and BoxRec.com to research weight disparity (mostly among heavyweights who could potentially engage in a fight while being upwards of 30 or more lbs. apart), quality of opposition and the results of those fights. The possibility of dividing the heavyweight division to prevent harmful outcomes was raised.

Pepe Sulaiman reported on the numerous WBC Los Angeles office activities. Working closely with WBC Cares, the L.A. office also engages in assisting with the Amateur Green Belt challenge program, providing photo sessions for any fighter who visits the office free of charge, conducting the WBC social media activity on Facebook, Twitter, etc. They also advise fighters who are in or around the local area or who reach out from afar, especially in terms of the WBC Boxers Fun, recently assisting former WBC champion Paul Banke in getting set up in the pension fund and receiving financial assistance.

Hubert Minn started out with his Ring Officials report, then calling on Barry Lindenman, Frank Garza and Ed Collantes to fill in specifics on their respective presentations.

The WBC unanimously voted to grant former WBC heavyweight champion and current mayor of Kiev, Urkraine, Vitali Klitschko’s wish and award the 2018 convention to the city of Kiev.

Finally, the WBC awarded in absentia, their Man of the Year award to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin for his success in the ring and conduct outside it.