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While during the morning and
early afternoon, Diana Spasova,
WBF General Secretary, was kept
busy with registrations and
accreditation of the incoming
delegates from around the world,
the biggest event in the 26-year
history of the World Boxing
Federation (WBF) really began to
pick up speed with the afternoon
welcome cocktail.
Then in front of a nationwide TV
audience, the third World
Convention of the WBF was
officially declared open today
in the historic city of Maribor
in Slovenia by WBF President
Howard Goldberg.
During a colorful 90 minutes
gathering, the WBF was warmly
welcomed to Slovenia by the
mayor of Maribor, Andrej
Fistravec, as well as by the
president of the National
Olympic Committee (NOC), Bogdan
Gabrovec, both of whom received
recognition awards from the
World Boxing Federation.
Also honored were Tomaz Barada,
NOC vice president and national
kickboxing legend, as well as
Ninoslav Vidovic of the Hotel
Habakuk for their contributions
and great efforts to bring the
WBF convention to Maribor.
Highlight of the opening
ceremony surely was the “Parade
of Champions” during which all
attending champions – headed by
ring legends such as Italy’s
greatest boxer ever, Nino
Benvenuti, Robin Reid, Donny
Lalonde and hometown icon Jan
Zaveck – were introduced with
career-best-of films on a stage
decorated with large images of
them.
Former WBF/IBF world champion
Zaveck, who lives a stone’s
throw away from the convention
site, the posh Hotel Habakuk,
then addressed the public
audience to welcome them in his
country also on behalf of the
Slovenian Boxing Federation.
WBF Vice President Torben
Seemann Hansen from Denmark then
announced the formation of the
WBF Advisory Board, a
five-person entity consisting of
former world class boxers who
will give the Executive Board of
the WBF its best possible advise
on sporting matters, based on
their outstanding knowledge and
exceptional experience in
professional boxing.
“It
is imperative that we involve
ex-champions in the sport and I
am sure the WBF will benefit
tremendously in the future from
their valuable input,” Hansen
explained.
First members of the Advisory
Board are England’s Robin Reid
(WBF/IBO/WBC champion), Canada’s
Donny Lalonde (WBC champion),
Slovenia’s Jan Zaveck (WBF/IBF
champion) and South Africa’s
Francois Botha (WBF champion) as
well as England's Audley
Harrison (European & Olympic
champion), with only the latter
two not being in attendance due
to work commitments back home in
Durban respectively Los Angeles.
Warmly greeted by everyone with
a big applause were also WBF
world middleweight champion
Michel Mothmora of France (who
announced his first defense for
February on Martinique island),
WBF women’s world lightweight
champion Nicole Wesner of
Germany (due to make her second
defense still this year), plus
Intercontinental Cruiserweight
champion Sefer Seferi from
Switzerland and International
heavyweight champion Werner
Kreiskott from Germany. Former
Intercontinental middleweight
champion Gogi Knezevic of
Austria will join festivities
tomorrow.
“What
a great start to our third World
Convention, it couldn’t have
been any better. I’m so glad to
see all our friends and
long-time WBF family members
here together again”, said a
happy and beaming WBF President
Goldberg, before heading for
what promised to be a very long
dinner night.
***
The full
convention program including a
precise time schedule can be
found on the special Convention
section of this website by
clicking
here.
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