The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level.
Founded in the United States in 1921 by 13 state representatives as the NBA, it is the oldest regulating fights. In 1962, it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity around the world and began to admit other nations as members. By 1975, a majority of its members were Latin American nations and the organization headquarters was moved to Panama City, Panama. It moved again in the 1990s to Venezuela before returning to Panama in 2007.
Alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO), it is one of four major organizations which sanctions professional boxing bouts. As of August 2024, boxing website BoxRec no longer recognizes WBA world title fights or world champions.
History The WBA can be traced back to the original National Boxing Association, organized in 1921. The first bout it recognized was the Jack Dempsey–Georges Carpentier heavyweight championship bout in New Jersey.
The NBA was formed by representatives from 13 American states, including Sam Milner, to counterbalance the influence that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) wielded. The NBA and the NYSAC sometimes crowned different "world champions" in the same division, leading to confusion about who was the real champion.
The International Boxing Research Organization describes the early NBA as follows:
Originally more comparable to the present American Association of Boxing Commissions than to its offspring and successor, the NBA sanctioned title bouts, published lists of outstanding challengers, withdrew titular recognition, but did not attempt to appoint its own title bout officials or otherwise impose its will on championship fights. It also did not conduct purse bids or collect "sanctioning fees."
The NBA officially became the WBA on 23 August 1962."World Boxing Association History". WBA. Retrieved September 2, 2018. Gilberto Mendoza was the President of the WBA from 1982 until his death in 2016, after which Gilberto Mendoza Jr. took over as president. In the 1990s, the WBA moved its central offices from Panama City, Panama, to Caracas, Venezuela. In January 2007, it returned its offices to Panama.
Controversies As has been the case with all major boxing sanctioning organizations, the WBA has been plagued with charges of corrupt practices. In a 1981 Sports Illustrated article, a boxing judge claimed he was influenced by WBA President Gilberto Mendoza to judge certain fighters competing for their titles more favorably. The same article also discussed a variety of bribes paid to WBA officials to obtain championship bout opportunities, or higher placement within the organization's rankings. In a 1982 interview, boxing promoter Bob Arum claimed that he had to pay off WBA officials to obtain rankings for his fighters. Further support for allegations of this nature came in the 1980s and 1990s as two other organizations would have similar corruption exposed, including the conviction and imprisonment of IBF President Bob Lee and Graciano Rocchigiani's successful civil prosecution of the WBC that resulted in the organization briefly filing for bankruptcy before reaching a settlement that saved it from collapse.
Fragmented championships Until the autumn of 2021, the WBA recognized up to four world champions in any given weight division, to the point of rendering it technically impossible under certain conditions for a WBA world champion to even hold sole recognition from the organization as its champion in a division.
The most prominent designation is that of the WBA Super champion, which was created in 2000 following a suggestion by Lennox Lewis after he was forced to relinquish his WBA heavyweight title prior to his defense against Michael Grant. This distinction was initially reserved for WBA champions who are simultaneously recognized by the WBC, IBF or WBO. A WBA Super champion is afforded special consideration by the organization with respect to meeting mandatory defense obligations to maintain championship recognition, but it also has opened the door for the organization to recognize a separate world champion, commonly referred to as the Regular champion; creating confusion among fans as to who holds the de facto championship title. Some world champions have been upgraded to WBA Super champion status without winning another organization's title, among them Floyd Mayweather Jr., Chris John, Anselmo Moreno and Manny Pacquiao; or upon defending their WBA title five or more times. Upon awarding a WBA Super championship, the regular world champion status is deemed vacant, whereupon it is filled by the organization as a separate championship. On March 5, 2021, Claressa Shields became the inaugural WBA Super women's champion at light middleweight.
The WBA further complicated this from time to time by recognizing an interim champion, ostensibly in cases where a designated world champion is, for some reason, prohibited from making a timely defense of their title. Under such conditions, the interim title holder is to be the next person to compete for one of the full championship titles once the champion is in a position to compete. In practice, however, this actually occurred rarely if ever and in 2019 the organization began awarding the WBA Gold title, for which no provision exists even within the organization's own governing documents. In December 2019 for example, they simultaneously recognized a WBA Super champion (Anthony Joshua), WBA champion (Manuel Charr), WBA interim champion (Trevor Bryan) and WBA Gold champion (Robert Helenius) in the heavyweight division.
There have even been instances where different WBA World Champions have defended versions of the same title, in the same weight class, on the same date, and even within the same event. On September 14, 2024, for example, Caleb Plant defeated Trevor McCumby to earn recognition as the WBA's Interim World Super Middleweight championship in an event that was headlined by Canelo Alvarez, who defended his WBA Super World Super Middleweight championship against Edgar Berlanga.
Following the controversial decision in the Gabriel Maestre vs. Mykal Fox fight on August 7, 2021, amid immense public pressure, the WBA finally began eliminating all interim titles in the attempt to return to a single champion per weight division. They reverted to issuing interim championships in 2024.
Title reduction plan
In August 2021, a letter sent by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) stated that the WBA having multiple titles was "misleading to the public and the boxers". The ABC also stated that if the WBA fails to do a satisfactory action regarding the issue, they would recommend to its members:
This could result in the WBA being blocked in the U.S. and will heavily impact WBA's business.
The WBA in turn responded by declaring all of their Interim titles vacant. They then ordered tournaments to determine a single champion of their weight classes.
At minimumweight, Regular champion Vic Saludar was ordered to face former Interim champion Erick Rosa on 26 August 2021, with Rosa winning the Regular title via split decision on 21 December. it was not until 29 September 2022, until the WBA officially ordered Rosa against Super champion Knockout CP Freshmart, however, after multiple failed attempts to make the fight, Rosa officially vacated his Regular title on 15 January 2024 to move up to light flyweight, leaving CP Freshmart as sole champion.
At light flyweight, Super champion Hiroto Kyoguchi and Regular champion Esteban Bermudez had already been ordered to fight prior to the ABC letter on 10 June 2021, but complications meant it was not until 28 January 2022 when purse bids were due to be held, however injury to Kyoguchi meant the WBA instead approved the rematch between Bermudez and former regular champion Carlos Cañizales 2 days earlier on 26 January. Bermudez vs Cañizales did not end up happening due to the latter's short-lived decision to move up to flyweight, and thus Kyoguchi-Bermudez took place on 10 June, with Kyoguchi winning by TKO. Former Interim champion Daniel Matellon was ordered to face Cañizales on September 30 in a final eliminator for the Super title, with Cañizales winning via technical decision on 9 June 2023, becoming mandatory to Kenshiro Teraji, who defeated Kyoguchi by TKO on 1 November 2022. Teraji defeated Cañizales via majority decision on 23 January 2024 to become sole champion.
At flyweight, the removal of Interim champions meant Artem Dalakian was left as sole champion of the division. Despite never being upgraded to Super champion, Dalakian had been the WBA's primary champion since winning the title in 2018, due to the absence of a Super champion since 2015. Dalakian was ordered to face former Interim champion Luis Concepción on 19 August 2021, whom he defeated by TKO on 20 November to remain sole champion.
At super flyweight, Super champion Juan Francisco Estrada was ordered to face Regular champion Joshua Franco on 9 February, with the fight going to purse bid on 19 April. Despite it being announced on 17 May that the fight would take place on 16 July, Estrada was disowned and stripped by the Championships Committee on 11 August for pursuing a rematch with Román González, leaving Franco as the sole champion of the division.
At bantamweight, Regular champion Guillermo Rigondeaux was stripped of his title on 14 August 2021, after facing then WBO champion John Riel Casimero. The WBA announced its refusal to sanction the fight on 23 July, in respect of restrictions placed on Regular titles by the WBO, and declared Rigondeaux would have to request to be ranked in order to follow through with the fight, in which his Regular title would be declared vacant. Super champion Naoya Inoue then became sole champion.
At super bantamweight, Brandon Figueroa was stripped of his Regular title on 2 December 2021, after facing Stephen Fulton in a WBC and WBO unification on November 27. This was due to restrictions imposed by the WBO who refuse to sanction fights involving the Regular title, with the WBA respecting this and announcing on 17 August (before the ABC letter) that Figueroa would be stripped. This came after Figueroa was allowed to "unify" in his previous fight with then WBC champion Luis Nery on 15 May, as the WBC do not impose the same restrictions on the Regular title. This left Super champion Murodjohn Akhmadaliev as sole champion. Former Interim champion Ra'eese Aleem did not move forward any with WBA sanctioned fight and was subsequently dropped from the initial mandatory position.