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Earlier this
year, the World Boxing
Federation (WBF) agreed to join
forces with the WIBF and the GBU
to create, in accordance with
our philosophy, a unified
women’s world title to reduce
the number of titles in world
boxing.
Unfortunately, after just a few
months into the partnership, we
must state that our partners
proved unable to aspire to the
high standards set and demanded
by the WBF, and as a result the
goals we set out to achieve
would not be possible to
realize. The WBF thus felt that
an amicable split was in the
best interests of all parties
concerned.
This split
was agreed upon just hours
before the planned Unified title
bout between Elina Tissen and
Gabriella Busa last Saturday in
Germany, when it transpired that
severe manipulation took place
behind the WBF's back. WIBF
President Juergen Lutz admitted
he had allowed the management of
Tissen to not just pick the
(all-German based) officials,
but that furthermore two of
those officials had no traceable
connection to professional
boxing.
Since those
rather shocking facts became
known to the WBF less than 24
hours prior to the start of the
contest – Lutz previously and
falsely claimed the German
Federation BDB would appoint the
officials! – the only
alternative was to pull out.
This coming
on the heels of Lutz appointing
for the Eva Voraberger vs Nina
Stojanovic super flyweight title
fight a week earlier a licensed
manager as judge, it proved the
final straw for the WBF.
“The
idea was good, but when your
partner turns out to not just
influence officials but also let
promoters basically buy results
beforehand only to secure a
sanction fee, then this can
never ever be the way of the
World Boxing Federation,” said
WBF Vice President Jean Marcel
Nartz, “Promoters may not like
it that with the WBF fairness
reigns, but we always prefer
honesty towards all boxers and
fans rather than doing
business.”
The WBF will retain all Unified
Champions as WBF World
Champions, who we hope will
follow in the footsteps of
former all-time great WBF
woman's champions such as Holly
Holm, Ann Sophie Mathis, Delfine
Persoon, Natascha Ragosina, Ina
Menzer, Christina Hammer and
many more.
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