WBO proposes new Trans-Oceanic regional belt

By David Finger
Photos: Sumio Yamada

The 31st annual WBO Convention convened today sunny Panama City, Panama where boxing officials, fighters, promoters, managers, and fans from all over the world converged on the Hotel El Panama and Convention Center. And the biggest news in day one was undoubtedly the contentious debate on the introduction of a new WBO regional belt: the WBO Trans-Oceanic.

On one side of the debate we saw President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, Vice President of Asia-Pacific and Vice President of Africa Leon Panoncello, and Australian member Danny Leigh while the other side of the debate saw Vice President of Europe Istvan “Koko” Kovacs, and European member Markus Aslani express concern over the proposal. Panoncillo and Leigh introduced the new belt and a motion was made to create the WBO Trans-Oceanic.

But when Leigh discussed the proposed jurisdiction of the Trans-Oceanic, which would be an organization that would sanction fights in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Eastern Europe, Kovacs voiced his concerns.

“We (Hungary) have no part of (the) Ocean,” Kovacs said. “Romania has no part of Ocean. Bulgaria has no part of Ocean.”

Kovacs also added the concern of the proliferation of titles, a criticism that the WBO has levied on rival sanctioning bodies.

“The WBC created millions of titles, we have not so much titles,” Kovacs added. “But if we are creating 10, 20 titles the value will be less and less.”

This prompted a similar concern expressed by Aslani.

“I think it could be a little dangerous,” Aslani added. “We stick to quality. If we open it up like the IBF I think this is dangerous.”

But President Valcarcel and Leigh countered with the fact that many fighters in Australia, New Zealand, and Russia are not getting the same opportunities that fighters in Europe are receiving.

”You see a lot of boxers in that area that were not getting our titles,” Valcarcel added. “We don’t have titles to offer them now.”

Valcarcel then specifically identifying three countries where the WBO presence is limited: New Zealand, Australia, and Russia.

Leigh also countered with a strong argument in defense of the proposal as well.

“I believe if we only stay in the Pacific region we would run out of fighters,” Leigh added. “Promoters in Australia and New Zealand will now work with fighter in Eastern Europe. I hope to work with all of the fellow regional Vice Presidents.”

The discussion dealt with jurisdiction and also the name, and concluded with all parties deferring the vote until Kovacs, Panoncillo, and Leigh agreeing to meet the following morning to discuss jurisdiction and a proposed name for the new belt and organization.

The General Assembly kicked off in the morning with attendants introducing themselves before President Valcarcel proposed postponing the President’s Report to later in the Convention. Business started with the Treasurer’s Report by WBO Treasurer Adolfo Flores Monge who shared the overall financial health of the WBO, which also encompassed the NABO and WBO Intercontinental.

“The WBO is the main entity of the NABO and the I/C,” Monge said. “If we count the cash flow of the WBO, NABO, and I/C…by August 31 (we had) 1.7 million dollars in cash equity balance. That is enough to fund al of its commitments. This organization has no delinquency and is in good standing.”

Monge then discussed the WBO legal fees and the legal fund in place, which was connected to some pending litigation before briefly deferring to WBO legal counsel Andrew Horn, who stated that although he couldn’t discuss the pending litigation it was expected to end favorably for the WBO.

“The WBO has a policy of vigorously defending all legal challenges,” Horn added. “I cannot discuss the status of one legal challenge but we are close to the end and I…anticipate it will end favorably. (The WBO) will not need additional funds for legal expenses.”

After the Treasurer’s Report the Vice Presidents kicked off their reports starting with Jorge Molina’s report on WBO Latino. The WBO Latino sanctioned an eye-popping 38 title fights since last year’s convention, bringing in an impressive $51,585 in revenue. Another eye popping statistic was the fact that since it’s inception in 1996 an impressive 169 WBO Latino Champions would go on to fight for a world title and 48 would go on to win a world title, including 6 fighters last year (out of 11 former or reigning WBO Latino champions who fought for the title since the last convention.) It was further conformation of the overall prestige and strength of the WBO Latino, and it’s status as one of the most prestigious regional belts in all of boxing.

Following the WBO Latino’s report, Sean Wheelock spoke on behalf of the ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions) about the ABC and an important change in ABC policy regarding weight gain after a weigh-in, a change that will impact all sanctioning bodies and world title fights.

“45 of 50 states have boxing commissions,” Wheelock said, “and of the five three use outside commissions. Wheelock also discussed the importance of the ABC and strict regulation, citing an example of a fighter he knew years ago who fought under an assumed name. He also discussed how Boxrec replaced Fight Fax as the official record keeper of the ABC before discussing the new requirement that a fighter not gain more than 10% of his weight after the weigh-in, a safety measure that is hoped to prevent fighters from cutting weight in a dangerous manner.

Following the ABC report was a video commemorating the life of former WBO President Ramon Pena Acevedo, who passed away in February at the age of 96.

From there Istvan Kovacs presented his report on WBO Europe, citing the overall productivity of WBO Europe. WBO Europe sanctioned 26 title fights and collected $92,950 in sanctioning fees, a 10% increase since 2017. He also noted that all of WBO Europe’s Champions were undefeated except one fighter. Kovacs then played a video discussing recent development with WBO Kids Drug Free in Europe, where Kovacs has taken an active role in promoting the program that is designed to help kids turn away from drugs and by helping to use boxers as positive role models.

Marion Palatin then gave a presentation of the status of WBO Female boxing, noting that since the last convention there has been 21 world championship fights spanning the globe. Eight have taken place in the Americas, seven in Europe, and six in Asia. WBO Female boxing has collected $64,148.87 in sanctioning fees.

From there Richard De Cuir gave the report for the NABO and WBO Inter Continental, standing in for Diana Melendez who had lost her voice due to an illness. De Cuir started off by eulogizing Don Chargin, the famed matchmaker who recently passed. He then discussed the change in the ABC rules regarding the 10% weight gain, noting that “this will affect every world title fight.”

“We will do business as normal, but we will do a second weigh-in.” De Cuir added.

De Cuir discussed the health of NABO, citing 24 sanctioned fights since the last convention. Although this is down from 25 sanctioned fights the previous year De Cuir noted that the gross revenue went up from $55,160 to $71,580. He also noted that the NABO already has four title fights scheduled between now and the end of the year. Beate Poeske gave a report on behalf of the WBO Inter Continental in which she discussed the overall success of the WBO I/C, collecting $86,760 in sanctioning fees since last years convention,.

After this President Valcarcel introduced Georgie Herrera of the Dominican Republic, whom he moved to replace the rather large shoes left by Dr. Pena’s passing. The board unanimously voted to approve Herrera as the WBO Representative in the Dominican Republic.

After a discussion on the status of the WBO’s brand renewal, Edgardo Lopez Sasso gave a report on the Ratings/Classification Committee, reiterating the criteria for entry into the WBO rankings, a criteria that includes: (1) the quality and frequency of competition, (2) positive TV exposure, (3) good relationship with the community, (4) holding a regional belt such as the NABO or WBO Africa, and (5) no drug related problems. This report was followed by the Grievance Committee Report, which reiterated the steps necessary to file a complaint with the Grievance Committee. Interestingly enough, a representative of the Games and Amusement Board of the Philippines spoke on behalf of his organization, which filed a complain on behalf of Senator Manny Pacquiao after Pacquiao lost a disputed decision to Jeff Horn. Although Pacquiao himself did not file a formal complain, the GAB did and expressed satisfaction with the process, even if the decision did not go their way. He spoke of the professionalism of the WBO in handling their challenge to the Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn decision.

“We feel it was properly addressed, we appreciate the steps taken by the WBO Grievance Committee and we wanted to thank you.”

Rounding off the Vice President’s reports was Leon Panoncello’s report on WBO Asia-Pacific, WBO Africa, WBO Oriental, and WBO China. Panoncello cited a slight increase in the sanctioning fees for WBO Asia-Pacific, WBO Africa and WBO Oriental (going up from $600 to $800 (and $1600 for heavyweight fights) he also noted the health of each organization. WBO Asia-Pacific collected $55057.54 in sanctioning fees and saw 47 regional title fights since the last convention, an increase from 2017. WBO Oriental sanctioned fifteen title fights and collected $35,148.03 in sanctioning fees (also an increase from the previous year). WBO Africa sanctioned 21 title fights and collected an impressive $42,753.76, over double the fights sanctioned in 2017. WBO International sanctioned 20 title fights and collected an impressive $100,560 in sanctioning fees, also an increase from 2017. WBO China National sanctioned six fights since the last convention and collected $10,845 in sanctioning fees. WBO Asia Pacific Youth sanctioned 7 title fights and collected $8,530 in sanctioning fees while WBO Oriental Youth sanctioned five fights and collected $7,760 in sanctioning fees. WBO Asia Pacific Female collected $13,740 and sanctioned 6 fights while WBO Greater China sanctioned 4 fights and collected $4,600 in revenue. In total the regions under Panoncillo’s control collected $278,994.33 in revenue since the last convention. Panoncillo continues to show that the areas under his impressive stewardship remain some of the most effective and prolific regions in the sport of boxing.

The activities concluded with a visit to the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal where a private party was arranged for the WBO members, and where members were able to dance the night away while watching large ships pass from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and vice versa. The Convention will continue tomorrow morning (October 31) with another executive session to discuss and vote on the Trans-Oceanic and for the referee and judges seminars.

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