WBF GETTING STRONGER IN PHILIPPINES

THE World Boxing Federation (WBF) is now getting stronger here in the Philippines with the staging of three championship fights on February 26 at the Lagao Gym in General Santos City.

Promoter Dexter “Wang Yu” Tan of Sanman Promotions said this is the biggest card with three WBF titles at stake in just one night in the “Laban Pinoy 3: Rise of Champions” to be presented by the Sanman Promotions and Solar Sports.

Former WBO Asia Pacific Youth bantamweight champion Glenn “The Rock” Porras (29-5-0-17 KOs) will face Ben “Iron” Mananquil (12-1-2-3 KOs) of Sanman Stable for the vacant WBF International bantamweight title.

Former world title contender Eden “Sanman” Sonsona (35-6-2-12 KOs) also of Sanman will fight Jovanny Rota (9-9-0-6 KOs) for the vacant WBF International super featherweight crown.

Eden’s younger brother Lolito “Thundershot” Sonsona (20-1-4-9 KOs) of Jason Soong Stable will also see action against former Philippine light flyweight champion Renren “Rainman” Tesorio (15-9-3-4 KOs) for the vacant WBF Asia super flyweight title.

Undefeated John Vincent “Mulawin” Moralde (18-0, 9 KOs) also of Sanman Stable is the current WBF International featherweight champion while two other undefeated Sanman boxers Harmonito “Hammer” dela Torre (19-0, 12 KOs) and “Magic” Mike Plania (13-0, 6 KOs) are former WBF champions.

Dela Torre, who is now based in Miami, USA is the former WBF World super featherweight champion while Plania is the ex-WBF International bantamweight title-holder.

The other current WBF title-holders are WBF Asia Pacific lightweight champion Jonel Gadapan (12-8-2-8 KOs)j of Iligan, WBF Asia Pacific super bantamweight champion Jack “Sparrow”Tepora (19-0, 14 KOs) of Cebu and WBF Asia Pacific bantamweight champion Kenny Demecillo (12-3-2-7KOs) of Iligan.

WBF HISTORY

WBF was originally established in early 1988 in Bristol, Tenneessee (USA) by its founder and inaugral president Larry Carrier, who was popular as the owner of the Bristol International Raceway. Being successful in a multitude of sports enterprises, Carrier had noted the failures of the existing autocratic sanctioning bodies and that gave the impetus to establish the World Boxing Federation.

In the following year, the WBF held its first championship bouts and Carrier passed on the presidency of the organization to Ron Scalf, who had been his partner from the start. In 2005, Carrier passed away at the age of 82 after a long illness, though his influence on the sport of boxing is still felt to this day.

Under Ron Scalf, the organization blossomed and the WBF grew into a global sanctioning body and held title bouts all over the world. The 90ies was without a doubt a most successful decade for the WBF so far and laid the foundation for its good reputation.

In 2003, Scalf resigned as president and the organization faced troubled times. From 2003 to 2004, Londoner Jonathan Feld tried to rescue the sanctioning body and acted as its president from England. However, despite huge efforts, he was ultimately not successful and forced to step down when the original WBF company was finally dissolved.

After a five-year interregnum period, during which an obscure private entity used the letter acronym to sanction boxing bouts, by the end of 2009, the World Boxing Federation was finally re-established under its original name as a non-profit sports organization properly registered in the state of Luxembourg.

South African Howard Goldberg, from Cape Town, an experienced boxing administrator for many years, assumed the position of president, with former president Ron Scalf lending his support for the first half year in the position as vice president.

In over six years since, the re-founded WBF has sanctioned over 330 championship contests in 40 countries worldwide, regaining and actually exceeding its former status and became one of the most well-established sanctioning bodies in professional boxing today.

The Executive Board is also composed of Vice President Jean Marcel Nartz (Germany), Vice President Torben Seemann Hansen (Denmark), Executive Director Olaf Schroeder (Germany) and General Secretary Diana Spasova (Germany) while the Advisory Board members are Juan Martin Coggi (Argentina), Jan Zaveck (Slovenia), Donny Lalonde (Canada), Audley Harrison (England), Francois Botha (South Africa) and Robin Reid (England).

The Championship Committee is composed of Howard Goldberg (South Africa), Jean Marcel Nartz (Germany), Tonio Tiberi (Luxembourg), Patrick Leonard (New Zealand), Dr. Zbigniew Lagosz (Poland) and Dr. Friedrich Mühlöcker (Austria).

The Executive Committee has Torben Seemann Hansen (Denmark) as chairman and Ernst Salzgeber (Austria) as vice chairman. The members are Tonio Tiberi (Luxembourg), Eddie Marshall (South Africa) and Eugenia Borshevska (Ukraine).

Olaf Schroeder (Germany) is the European Chairman of the Continental Coordinators while the others are Bruce Baker (England) – UK & Ireland Representative, Emmanuel Demanet (Belgium) – Benelux Representative, Lukasz Anielski (Poland) – East Europe Representative, Donny Lalonde (Malta) – Malta Representative, Pietro Pozza (France) – Franco Region Representative, Eugenia Borshevska (Ukraine) – East Europe (& Central Asia) Representative,           Louis Bygland (Norway) –  Norwegian Representative, Dr. Yavuz Sakir (Turkey / Germany)) –  Turkic Countries Representative, Jozo Gabric (Croatia) –  Balkan Representative,   African Chairman:        Howard Goldberg (South Africa).

The other regional representatives are Innocent Tchuente Tamo (Cameroon) – Central & West Africa Representative, Jonathan Mwete Chilonda (Zambia) – Zambian Representative,       Yassin Abdallah Mwaipaya (Tanzania) – Tanzanian Representative, North & Central American Chairman:      Sergio Sotelo (Mexico),José Martinez (USA) – US West Coast Representative, Raul Wilhelmy (Mexico) – Mexican Representative.

The South American Chairman is Jorge Marcelo Ramia (Argentina) while for Asia Pacific is Jung Pyo Kim (South Korea) and Oceania Chairman Shelley Ashton (New Zealand),

The other regional representatives are HM Oetojo (Indonesia), Polynesia – Roland Brillant (Tahiti). Middle East -Behnam Azampanah (Iran), Kuwait -Abbas Sadeqi (Kuwait), Caribbean -Sam Layne (Barbados) and Philippines – Jim Claude Manangquil.

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