December 12, WBC Convention, Diary #4: The last WBC session is about transgender boxing, marijuana and an appeal to keep professionals safe.
There is no sign of the hectic pace of the first few days. It’s getting calmer, almost Christmassy. The 62nd WBC Convention is nearing its end and its final climax at the same time. Some smaller, closed working groups of the WBC officials took place, the summary of the last few days by WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman and my personal highlight, the “Universum Boxing Night #14”, with ten great boxing matches.
As the event was taking place in the large ballroom, Sulaiman and his party moved to the second floor, to the much smaller Speicherstadt meeting room. It was correspondingly “cozy”.
The most important messages summarized:
1. transgender boxing: Only man against man and woman against woman, i.e. XX against XX and XY against XY chromosomes! This is the only way to decide which gender you belong to. The WBC is thus taking a clear position and avoiding the kind of gender discussions that took place at the last Olympic Games in Paris.
2. the rules for bandaging must be standardized.
3. because the use of marijuana is legal in some countries and a positive test may be likely due to secondhand smoke, the WBC does not test for marijuana.
4. at the WBC in France there are only three ring and points judges. Why there are so few could not be answered, but apparently the lack of ring officials is a general problem.
5 In view of the fact that 80 percent of all professional boxers are effectively left with nothing after the end of their career, the financial security of professional boxers is a matter close to Sulaiman’s heart. He therefore emphasized the importance of Billy Dib’s work as an ambassador for the “Board of Champions”. In future, he will be supported by former heavyweight world champion Michael Moorer.
6th WBC Bridger Champion Kevin Lerena will defend his title in Ukraine in February. This will be a historic moment for Sulaiman.
After the boxing event, four exciting days in Hamburg come to an end for me. Thanks to Ismail Özen-Otto for bringing this fantastic congress to Hamburg!
Now in BOXSPORT 06/25:
Shields, Taylor, Serrano & Co. – who are the best “Pound for Pound“? And where does the German undisputed champion Tina Rupprecht stand in the ultimate ranking? Plus: 25-year-old Devrim Gökduman has fought his way to the top of the national lightweight rankings. Plus: Junto Nakatani was long overshadowed by P4P superstar Inoue – Japan’s quiet boxing sensation now has a place in the limelight himself. And: BOXSPORT on the steep rise of the Fundora siblings. Plus lots of stories, analysis, rankings, fight reports and much more.