Today is the start of an interesting next several weeks for me both personally and professionally as the World Boxing Federation moves into new territories once again.
It’s off to Japan, a country I have never been to, but look extremely forward to explore, to supervise the WBF world Super Bantamweight title fight in Osaka. Straight from there the next stop is Uganda, once the home of former tough world title contender John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi.
Following Uganda there are a couple of stops in Tanzania, Namibia, South Korea and Colombia, to mention but a few, as the WBF continues to grow as a world sanctioning body.
But rather than focusing on these upcoming fights, I wish to move into the female side of boxing for one moment. Having been invited to a small kickboxing show in Cape Town a few weeks ago, I was shocked though delighted to see the increased female fan base, as well as the quality of women participating in this event.
The World Boxing Federation has been, and always will be, a huge supporter of female boxing as can be seen by the quality of female world champions we have had in our organization. South Africa’s Boxing South Africa chair-lady, Ms. Ntambi Ravele, has been the driving force behind the development of women boxing in South Africa – the WBF currently has two female world champions and one International champion from South Africa.
But what is more important and even historic is that Ms. Ravele was instrumental in creating history by being involved in the first-ever all women’s professional boxing event which staged five title fights. Even the referees and judges were female and all did a wonderful job.
Women’s boxing is here to stay, it needs to be recognized and supported, and the people behind women boxing need to be commended.
Until next time, keep boxing.
Howard Goldberg
PRESIDENT: World Boxing Federation
