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Denmark’s Torben Seemann Hansen
was born in 1945 in Copenhagen.
A self-proclaimed “sports nerd”,
he was an active Basketball and
Handball player at a high
domestic level, first division
and third division respectively,
and used boxing training to
optimize his fitness.
But, while he often trained
alongside the fighting-men at
Akademisk Boxingclub (ABC) and
Hvidovre Boxingclub, he never
had an official bout himself.
Instead he would quite early in
his life start a career in
boxing administration and
officiating, and is now fast
approaching his fiftieth
anniversary in the sport.
“My
father was an authorized
translator, and often did work
in that capacity for the Danish
Professional Boxing Federation”,
Hansen says. “They always gave
him a ticket to the shows, which
he then passed on to me.”
“I
made a point of thanking the
DPBF board-members for the
ticket, and when I started
working in the meatpacking
district in Copenhagen, where
several of the board-members
also worked, I often ran into
them and we chatted about
boxing.”
“They
knew I liked the sport, and
trained boxing, so at one point
I was asked to join the DPBF
board. I liked that idea, and at
the general assembly in 1970 I
was elected to the DPBF board.”
That same year, Torben married
his girlfriend Ann, and they had
a son, Michael, who would
eventually follow in his fathers
footsteps as President of the
Danish Professional Boxing
Federation. But before Torben
held that position, between 1984
and 1987, he paid his dues.
First he served as a
board-member for five years, and
then General Secretary for eight
years. When he stepped down as
president, he became Denmark´s
representative in the European
Boxing Union (EBU) between 1987
and 2000.
In 2007 he returned in an
official role with the DPBF as a
member of the federations Law
Committee, where he is still
going strong on his tenth year.
Also an esteemed international
judge and ringside official with
close to 250 championship fights
on his resume, Torben has been a
steady fixture in Danish
professional boxing since he
first got his foot inside the
door, even when he was not part
of DPBF management.
In his professional career,
Hansen has also been around the
block a few times. While working
full-time as a sales-consultant
for Plumrose between 1966 and
1972, he also studied at the
University of Copenhagen where
he obtained a Masters degree in
Nordic literature and language.
That led him to a five-year
stint as a teacher, before
taking on several positions
within marketing, public
relations and communication in
well-renowned companies such as
ØK Data, SAS and FLSmidth. He
retired in 2008 after
twenty-four years as Vice
President of FLSmidth.
Hansen has no intentions of
retiring from his duties in
boxing, the sport he says has
given him so many wonderful
experiences over the years. He
especially appreciates his
“Heavyweight Memories”, having
worked fights involving greats
such as Mike Tyson, Frank Bruno,
Evander Holyfield and Wladimir
Klitschko.
But when asked to recall one of
his funniest memories, he takes
us back to a Sunday night at
Bingley Hall in Staffordshire,
England in February 1988. IBF
Middleweight World Champion
Frank Tate defended his title
with a tenth round stoppage of
Tony Sibson, and Torben Seeman
Hansen was one of the judges.
“The
referee for the fight was
American Frank Cappuccino, to me
one of the great legends of
refereeing. He was a very nice
guy, but also very
self-conscious”, explains
Hansen.
“The
rest of us were getting a bit
annoyed to hear him talk about
all his qualities, so we had a
cake made and persuaded
ring-announcer Michael Buffer to
present it to Frank in the ring,
in celebration if his seventieth
birthday.”
“That
didn’t sit too well with Mr.
Cappuccino, who at the time must
have been in his mid to late
fifties.”
Before joining the World Boxing
Federation in 2011, Hansen had
plenty of experience working for
various other sanctioning
bodies. Between 1985 and 2000 he
held various positions within
the European Boxing Union (EBU),
including being Vice President
from 1998 to 2000.
In that same period he was also
a member of the World Boxing
Council (WBC) Board of
Governors, before joining the
World Boxing Association (WBA)
and its European arm, the
European Boxing Association
(EBA), as Vice President.
At one point he was also a
member of the International
Boxing Organization (IBO)
appeals committee, so it is safe
to say that Hansen knows more
than most about the mechanisms
of a sanctioning body, and
speaks from experience when he
says:
“I
got tired of the bigger
organizations manipulating ways,
and their larger interest in the
financial side than in the
sporting side. That was the
reason why I resigned from the
European Boxing Union in 2000,
and eventually the reason why I
joined the World Boxing
Federation.
“I
have known (WBF President)
Howard (Goldberg) and others
from the WBF through a number of
years, and have a lot of respect
for these people. And once I
joined, I was not disappointed.”
“The
World Boxing Federation
management is a group of people
who loves the sport of boxing,
and its a no-nonsense and
effective management with an
ambition to do things fair and
transparent. To me, this is all
very important.”
It is often said that you cant
teach and old dog new tricks.
While Torben is no
spring-chicken, we will refrain
from calling him old at only
seventy-one years of age. In
fact, he only recently stopped
playing Badminton and switched
to Bowling, because, after all,
“My knees are not what they used
to be”.
And while anyone would be lucky
to have Torben as a friend, it
is certainly unfair to compare
him to the animal referred to as
“mans best friend”. So in this
case the above saying is not
fitting in any way with Mr.
Hansen, who acknowledge the need
for, and embrace, changes in
boxing.
“When
you ask me about what has
changed in a positive way in
boxing the last twenty years, I
think the most significant thing
is safety. Serious injuries are
more rare now, due to regular
medical checks, anti-doping
efforts and the reduction of
rounds in championship fights
from fifteen to twelve.”
“In
regards to the WBF, I expect
continued positive developments
which will separate us from
other sanctioning bodies. For
instance, we strive to keep
expenses at a minimum for
promoters of our championships,
so smaller promoters also have a
chance to do title fights.”
“We
do not create artificial titles
such as “Silver”, “Diamond”,
“Junior” or “Super” just to line
our pockets. We have a small but
effective organization with
dedicated people, who prioritize
sporting interests above
business interests. And we make
an effort to develop our sport
in areas of the world which
hasn’t previously had a
tradition in professional
boxing.”
As the World Boxing Federation
continues to grow and attempt to
separate itself in positive
ways, it is hard to find a
better, more qualified person to
have on board than Torben
Seemann Hansen. When that
fiftieth anniversary comes along
in a few years, he will
hopefully still be a big part of
the team.
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