World Boxing Association
Encyclopedia
The World Boxing Association (WBA) is a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962. It is the oldest of the major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 bouts, alongside the International Boxing Federation
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...

, the World Boxing Council
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

 and the World Boxing Organization
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...

.

History

The original sanctioning body of professional boxing, the World Boxing Association can be traced back to the original National Boxing Association, organized in 1921; the first bout recognized by the organization being the Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...

-Georges Carpentier
Georges Carpentier
Georges Carpentier was a French boxer. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908-26. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and his fighting weight ranged from...

 Heavyweight Championship bout in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, USA.

The NBA was formed by representatives from thirteen American states to counterbalance the influence the New York State Athletic Commission
New York State Athletic Commission
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, professional wrestlers, seconds, ring officials,...

 (NYSAC) wielded in the boxing world. This often meant that the NBA and the NYSAC crowned different world champions in the same division, leading to confusion about who was the real champion.

The International Boxing Research Organization describes the early NBA in this way: "Originally more comparable to the present American Association of Boxing Commissions than to its offspring and successor, the NBA sanctioned title bouts, published lists of outstanding challengers, withdrew titular recognition, but did not attempt to appoint its own title bout officials or otherwise impose its will on championship fights. It also did not conduct purse bids or collect 'sanctioning fees.'"

In 1962 the NBA, with the growth of boxing's popularity worldwide, changed its name to the World Boxing Association. The organization remained mainly American until 1974, however. In that year, two Panamanian boxing figures named Rodrigo Sanchez and Elias Cordova manipulated the WBA rules to give a majority of votes to nations in Latin America.

Gilberto Mendoza has been the President of the WBA since 1982. The WBA in the 1990s moved its central offices from Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...

, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, to Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. In January 2007 it moved its offices again to Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

.

Controversies

The WBA has been plagued with charges of corruption for years. In perhaps the most notable instance, promoter Bob Arum
Bob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....

 claimed in a 1982 interview that he had to pay off WBA officials to obtain rankings. In a 1981 Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

article, a WBA judge claimed that he was influenced by the WBA president to support certain fighters. The same article also discussed a variety of bribes paid to WBA officials to obtain title fights or rankings with the organization.

The WBA also came under fire in the 1980s for allowing South Africans to fight for its titles.

Super titles

The WBA recognizes the title holders from the WBC, WBO, and IBF organizations. The WBA refers to a champion who holds two or more of these titles in the same weight class as an "undisputed champion" or "super champion". This applies even if the WBA title is not one of the titles held by the "undisputed champion". In September 2008, Nate Campbell
Nate Campbell
Nathaniel Campbell , more commonly known as Nate Campbell, is an American retired professional boxer. He is a former unified WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight champion.-Amateur career:...

 was recognized as lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....

 "undisputed champion" for his WBO and IBF titles, while the WBA's own champion was Yusuke Kobori
Yusuke Kobori
is a retired professional boxer from Japan and a former WBA lightweight champion.Kobori won the Japanese super featherweight title on January 14, 2006 by knocking out Keita Manabe in the second round. He went on to defend it 6 times....

.

If one of the multiple titles held to earn the designation WBA "Super" Champion is the WBA's own title, then the fighter is promoted to Super champion and the standard WBA title becomes vacant for other WBA-ranked boxers to fight for. Thus, the WBA tables will sometimes show a "WBA Super World Champion" and a "WBA World Champion" for the same weight class, instead of simply "WBA Champion" .

Sometimes it is possible for a WBA champion to become "Super" champion without adding another organization's title; Chris John
Chris John (boxer)
Yohannes Christian John is an Indonesian professional boxer, and the current WBA featherweight champion....

 is an example.

Male

Weight class: Champion: Reign began:
Minimumweight
Minimumweight
Minimumweight is a weight class division in combat sports. The most notable of which is in professional boxing where boxers may weigh no more than . This is a relatively new weight category for professionals, first inaugurated by the major boxing sanctioning bodies between 1987 and 1990...

  Akira Yaegashi
Akira Yaegashi
is a Japanese professional boxer who is the current WBA minimumweight champion.Yaegashi captured the WBA minimumweight title in his second world title shot against Thai's Pornsawan Porpramook via a tenth round technical knockout at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on October 24, 2011.-External links:...

October 24, 2011
Light flyweight
Light flyweight
- Professional boxing :The weight limit at light flyweight in professional boxing is 108 pounds . When New York legalized boxing in 1920, the law stipulated a "junior flyweight" class, with a weight limit of 99 pounds. When the National Boxing Association was formed in 1921, it also recognized this...

  Roman Gonzalez
Roman Gonzalez
Roman Gonzalez may refer to:*Román González, Argentinian basketball player*Román González Nicaraguan boxer...

February 4, 2011
Flyweight
Flyweight
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:...

  Hernan Marquez
Hernan Márquez
Hernan Márquez Beltran , is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the current WBA Flyweight Champion.-Professional career:Nicknamed "Tyson" due to his aggressive style, Marquez is a hard-hitting southpaw....

April 2, 2011
Super flyweight
Super flyweight
Super flyweight is a weight division in professional boxing. It is alternatively referred to as junior bantamweight and light bantamweight...

  Tomonobu Shimizu
Tomonobu Shimizu
is a Japanese professional boxer who is the current WBA super flyweight champion in recess. He is an alumnus of the Tokyo University of Agriculture.-Biography:...

August 31, 2011
Bantamweight
Bantamweight
Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight...

  Anselmo Moreno
Anselmo Moreno
Anselmo Moreno is a professional boxer from El Martillo San Miguelito, Republic of Panama.He is the current WBA Bantamweight Super Champion. In August 2011, Moreno signed a four fight promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.-Bantamweight:...

 
May 31, 2008
  Koki Kameda
Koki Kameda
is a Japanese professional boxer in the Flyweight division and the current WBA Bantamweight Regular Champion. He is the oldest of the three Kameda brothers. His younger brother, Daiki Kameda, is a professional boxer in the super flyweight division, and the youngest brother Tomoki, is the WBC Youth...

 
December 26, 2010
Super bantamweight
Super Bantamweight
Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

  Rico Ramos
Rico Ramos
Rico Dashon Ramos is an American Super Bantamweight boxer of Puerto Rican descent. He is the current WBA world super bantamweight champion.-Amateur career:...

July 9, 2011
Featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...

  Chris John
Chris John (boxer)
Yohannes Christian John is an Indonesian professional boxer, and the current WBA featherweight champion....

 
November 1, 2003
  Celestino Caballero
Celestino Caballero
Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero is a professional boxer from Panama. He is the former undisputed Super Bantamweight WBA & IBF and Super Champion for the WBA. On October 14th, 2011, Celestino became the new WBA Featherweight champion of the world after beating Jonathan Barros at Luna Park, Argentina...

 
October 14, 2011
Super featherweight
Super Featherweight
Super featherweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 130 pounds or 59 kilograms....

  Takashi Uchiyama
Takashi Uchiyama
is a super featherweight boxer from Japan and the current WBA Super Featherweight Champion. He was born in Nagasaki Prefecture, grew up in Kasukabe, Saitama, and lives in Tokyo....

January 11, 2010
Lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....

  Juan Manuel Márquez
Juan Manuel Márquez
Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez , is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the fourth Mexican-born boxer to become a three-division world champion, where he won eight world titles in three different boxing weight classes.Currently, Marquez is the WBA Super, WBO and The Ring lightweight champion...

 
February 28, 2009
  Brandon Ríos
Brandon Rios
Brandon Lee Ríos is an undefeated Mexican-American/Native American boxer and the current WBA lightweight champion. Brandon is trained by former IBF super featherweight champion Roberto García.-Amateur career:...

 
February 26, 2011
Light welterweight
Light welterweight
-Professional boxing:The light welterweight class is a weight division in professional boxing that has a limit of 63.5 kg or 140 pounds...

  Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....

 
July 18, 2009
  Marcos Maidana  July 23, 2011
Welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

  Vyacheslav Senchenko
Vyacheslav Senchenko
Vyacheslav Senchenko is a professional boxer from Ukraine. He resides in Donetsk. His professional record includes 30 fights: 30 wins...

April 10, 2009
Super welterweight   Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and the reigning WBA light middleweight champion. He is the younger brother of contender Jose Miguel Cotto and cousin of Abner Cotto...

 
June 5, 2010
  Austin Trout
Austin Trout
Austin Trout is an undefeated professional boxer and the current WBA light middleweight champion.-Amateur career:In 2004 Austin was the U.S...

 
February 6, 2011
Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

  Felix Sturm
Felix Sturm
Felix Sturm is a German boxer and current WBA middleweight Super champion of Bosniak descent. Sturm was born and raised in Leverkusen, Germany, but both of his parents were immigrants from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.- Professional career :On 27 January 2001, Sturm made his debut as a...

 
April 28, 2007
  Gennady Golovkin  October 2010
Super middleweight
Super middleweight
Super Middleweight is a boxing and Muay Thai weight division that has a weight limit of 168 pounds .- 1960s–1983 :There was interest in a division between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight in the late 1960s, the mid-1970s, and the early 1980s...

  Andre Ward
Andre Ward
Andre Ward is an American professional boxer and the current WBA super middleweight champion.Currently, Ward is rated among the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. He is rated #6, #7 and #10 by Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, and The Ring...

 
November 21, 2009
  Karoly Balzsay
Károly Balzsay
Károly Balzsay is a Hungarian boxer and the current WBA super middleweight champion. He is also a former WBO super middleweight champion...

 
August 26, 2011
Light heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...

  Beibut Shumenov
Beibut Shumenov
Beibut Shumenov, is a Kazakh professional boxer who fights in the light heavyweight division. He is the current WBA Light Heavyweight Champion.-Amateur career:Shumenov represented Kazakhstan in the 2004 Summer Olympics...

January 29, 2010
Cruiserweight   Guillermo Jones
Guillermo Jones
Guillermo Jones is a Panamanian boxer best known for losing three world title fights in controversial decisions...

September 27, 2008
Heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

  Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer. Klitschko is the WBA , IBF, WBO Super, IBO & Ring Magazine Champion. His older brother Vitali Klitschko is the current WBC champion...

 
July 2, 2011
  Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin is a Russian boxer. He is the current holder of the WBA heavyweight title. His height is . Because of his amateur success, as well as his early pro accomplishments, he is seen as a leading contender in professional boxing's Heavyweight division...

 
August 27, 2011

Female

Weight class: Champion: Date won:
Strawweight (105 lbs) vacant?
Junior flyweight (108 lbs) vacant?
Flyweight
Flyweight
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:...

 (112 lbs)
  Susi Kentikian 30 March 2007
Junior bantamweight (115 lbs) vacant?
Bantamweight
Bantamweight
Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight...

 (118 lbs)
vacant?
Junior featherweight (122 lbs) vacant?
Featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...

 (126 lbs)
vacant?
Super Featherweight
Super Featherweight
Super featherweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 130 pounds or 59 kilograms....

 (130 lbs)
  Kina Malpartida
Kina Malpartida
Kina Malpartida Dyson is a Peruvian female professional boxer. She is the 2009 World Boxing Association Champion in the Super Featherweight class.-Personal life:Malpartida was born in Lima, Peru in 1980 to Susy Dyson and Oscar Malpartida...

21 February 2009
Lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....

 (135 lbs)
vacant?
Junior welterweight (140 lbs) vacant?
Welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 (147 lbs)
  Cecilia Brækhus
Cecilia Brækhus
Cecilia Brækhus is a and , professional Norwegian boxer and a former kickboxer. She is currently the World Champion in Welterweight in the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, World Boxing Organization and World Professional Boxing Federation...

14 March 2009
Junior middleweight (154 lbs) vacant?
Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

 (160 lbs)
vacant?
Super middleweight
Super middleweight
Super Middleweight is a boxing and Muay Thai weight division that has a weight limit of 168 pounds .- 1960s–1983 :There was interest in a division between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight in the late 1960s, the mid-1970s, and the early 1980s...

 (168 lbs)
vacant?
Light heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...

 (175 lbs)
vacant?
Cruiserweight (200 lbs) vacant?
Heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 (200+ lbs)
vacant?

Other world organizations

International Boxing Hall of Fame recognized:
  • International Boxing Federation
    International Boxing Federation
    The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...

  • World Boxing Council
    World Boxing Council
    The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

  • World Boxing Organization
    World Boxing Organization
    The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...



Other organizations:
  • International Boxing Association
  • International Boxing Council
    International Boxing Council
    The International Boxing Council is a boxing organization. The IBC titles are often the beginning for professional boxers who progress to high prestigious titles....

  • International Boxing Organization
    International Boxing Organization
    The International Boxing Organization is a for-profit organization that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.- Origins :...

  • World Professional Boxing Federation
    World Professional Boxing Federation
    The World Professional Boxing Federation ' is an international sanctioning body that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championship title...

     & United States Boxing Council
    United States Boxing Council
    The United States Boxing Council is a governing body that sanctions regional championships bouts. It is an affiliated organization within the World Professional Boxing Federation .-Current USBC Title Holders:- Other world organizations :...


Regional Organizations


WBA affiliated organizations

  • FEDELATIN
  • Pan Asian Boxing Association
    Pan Asian Boxing Association
    The Pan Asian Boxing Association also known as PABA is an organisation for professional and amateur boxing in the Central Asia, Oceania, Pan Pacific, Eurasia and Southeast and Far East nations. They have 31 regular member nations and 11 associate member nations...

     (PABA)
  • European Boxing Association (EBA)
  • North American Boxing Association (NABA)

Transition of WBA titles


External links

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