|
After a
relaxing start to the year, the
World Boxing Federation springs
back into action as we prepare
for another action filled year
of entertaining, competitive and
quality boxing championship
fights. With fights lined up for
the USA, Europe, China, South
America and Africa in the first
few months of the year, it
appears that another busy year
lies ahead for the WBF
personnel.
I am
personally excited that we will
be venturing into new territory
early this year, with a quality
woman’s title bout in Zambia in
early March. I am looking
forward to visiting Zambia
together with one of our top
officials, and meeting our new
promoter, who thus far has been
incredibly professional in all
our communications.
I recently
met with one of the young
up-and-coming trainers in Cape
Town, who asked me about the
most exciting boxing fight I had
ever witnessed.
There have
been some great battles over the
past few decades, and one
certainly thinks back to the era
of Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and
Duran, but for me the fight I
cannot forget was the 1982 Aaron
Pryor vs. Alexis Arguello
rematch, which was refereed by
South Africa's own Stan
Christodoulou – an incredible
fight.
The most exciting WBF fight I
have ever seen is without doubt
the Juan Montes vs. Oscar Ibarra
blood-fest in Mexico a few years
ago. I have to confess that even
as supervisor of the fight, when
the capacity crowd stood on
their feet to acknowledge two
bloodied heroes going toe to
toe, without taking a single
backward step, I stood up too.
When the very
knowledgeable Sergio Sotelo told
me prior to the fight to expect
a war – I had no idea how right
he would be, and that fight as
expected won the WBF Fight of
the Year award hands down.
The most
exciting fight I ever refereed
was without doubt the South
African super featherweight
title match between Mzonke Fana
and the late Wiseman Jim in
2001. The fact is I virtually
had nothing to do as these two
warriors threw everything they
had, used every ounce of energy
to provide a capacity crowd of
5000 at the Oliver Thambo Hall
in Khayelitsha, Cape Town with
an unforgettable fight.
As we move into 2015, let us
hope that intelligent
matchmaking will result in more
great fights. Television and
spectators need and want
exciting fights. Boring
mismatches are certainly not
good for the game, and I hope
that 2015 provides us with some
unforgettable boxing.
Until next time, keep boxing.
Howard Goldberg
PRESIDENT: World Boxing
Federation
|
