The Directorate meeting of the World Boxing Association started Thursday morning at Kempinski Hotel Marinela in Sofia, Bulgaria with welcome speeches by Mrs. Mariana Borissova, International and European coordinator and Mr. Georgi Ezekiev, President of the Bulgarian Professional Boxing Union.
The WBA directors were met by a traditional Bulgarian children dance group and the WBA President Mr. Gilberto Mendoza was presented with bread and honey according to centuries old Bulgarian tradition for meeting esteemed guests. President Mendoza gave gifts to the young dancers.
The President then kicked off a very intensive first session of the meeting with thanks to the participants and especially the promoters who arrived in Sofia from all over the world. `I hope for a good meeting for the benefit of the sport`, said the President.
Before giving an update on the previous meetings – in Santo Domingo in 2014 and in Tapachula, Mexico in 2015, the WBA Vice President Mr. Gilberto Jesus Mendoza called for a minute of silence in honour of the former WBA treasurer Alberto Sarmiento and WBA member Gonzalo Lopez Silvero who passed away recently.
The Vice President organized the appointment of 5-member committees for special tasks – Research and Environmental Threats for Sanction Bodies, Marketing opportunities Bylaws revision, Rules revision, Gloves and Health improvements, and KO Drugs. Special coordinators were appointed for each committee. They will report on monthly basis until the next scheduled WBA meeting in November.
The directors of the regional bodies affiliated to the WBA, including PABA, NABA, PAFBA, FEDELATIN, Intercontinental, and female boxing presented reports activities, plans and suggestions.
The President of NABA Mr. Yangsup Shim reported 52 title fights for the period of June 2014 until May 2015. These fights took place in nine countries – Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, China, Russia, and the USA.
Mr. Aurelio Fiengo of FEDELATIN reported on 73 regional, sub-regional and female fights. The NABA chairman Mr. George Martinez gave account for 9 NABA and 2 NABA-US fights.
86 title fights for the period of 2013 until 2015 Mrs. Borissova. 63 of them took place in Europe. 36 were on Intercontinental level, 36 International and 13 Continental. `We had very good competitive fights`, said Mrs. Borissova.
Mr. Stanley Christodoulou of the PAFBA urged for a Ring Officials Guide in order to improve their performance.
Suggestions for a committee for classification of the officials and on the quality of the refereeing were raised during the special reports during the WBA meeting. It was observed that non-exclusive WBA officials have 30% more assignments than those who work exclusively for WBA fights.
