The World Boxing Organization (WBO), chaired by Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcárcel, Esq. suspended the 2020 edition of its annual convention due to the current pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus.

The annual convention was scheduled to be held next October in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The decision was made by the Executive Committee and 78 member countries of the organization. The vote was unanimous. Valcárcel, Esq. indicated that the elections for all the positions of the Executive Committee and of the regional organisms were postponed until the 2021 Convention.

For his part, WBO’s legal adviser, Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. stressed that the organization’s priority is the health of all its members and the general public.

“In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the WBO’s greatest concern is the health and safety of our members, former and current champions, and the boxing community in general. Therefore, in consultation with our WBO Member Commissions around the world and the WBO Executive Committee, it was agreed that the best course of action was to postpone the annual convention for the following year (2021)”, said Olivieri.

“We hope to see and greet all of the WBO family in 2021.”

 

By Miguel Rivera

Accoding to overseas reports, World Boxing Organization (WBO) President Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel will be part of a big media event in Japan, where he will announce the WBO’s entry into the Japanese market. At the moment, the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association are the only sanctioning organizations recognized by the Japanese Boxing Commission. Valcárcel will be accompanied by the WBO’s chairman of championship fights, Luis Perez, and promoter Felix ‘Tutico’ Zabala.

The presentation will take place at the Tokyo Dome, and the event will be organized by Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda, president of Teiken Promotions Inc., a company with close ties to Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions.

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CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO- Como parte de su programa “Kids Drug Free”, los ex campeones mundiales Iván “Iron Boy” Calderón y Wilfredo Vázquez Jr., y la Organización Mundial de Boxeo (OMB) compartieron por tercer año consecutivo en esta semana de Acción de Gracias con los niños y jóvenes de la Casa Laura Vicuña de Caguas, que trabaja distintas actividades para niños y jóvenes de la Barriada Morales.

“Por tres años seguidos estamos aquí en estos días de la semana de Acción de Gracias compartiendo con estos niños y jóvenes y lo seguiremos haciendo. Lo que queremos es que se mantengan lejos de las drogas y todos los problemas que hay en la calle”, expresó el presidente de la OMB, Francisco “Paco” Valcárcel. “Es grande el trabajo que hacen todas la personas que trabajan en esta institución para que estos niños y jóvenes sigan adelante”.

La Casa Laura Vicuña es una entidad sin fines de lucro dirigida por las Hijas de María Auxiliadora (Hermanas Salesianas) que se dedica a llevar a niños y jóvenes de entre 4 y 18 años un programa de Educación y Prevención en su tiempo libre, con estos programas dividiéndose en Tutorías, Asignaciones y proyectos y Artístico. En el mismo participan cientos de niños y niñas del área de Caguas. La OMB auspició una Cena de Acción de Gracias para los niños y jóvenes de la Casa Laura Vicuña, así como los regalos repartidos en el bingo que se realizó en el lugar.

En la actividad, además de Calderón y Vázquez Jr., estuvieron el monarca supergallo Latino de la OMB Jonathan “Polvo” Oquendo, el campeón ligero Latino de la OMB José “Chelo” González, así como los prospectos McWilliams y McJoe Arroyo y Jonathan “Bomba” González, quienes compartieron con los niños y jóvenes que participan de los programas de la institución.

 

 

TOA BAJA, PUERTO RICO – José “Chelo” González and Manuel Alejandro Siaca picked up one-sided decision wins at the coliseum Antonio R. Barceló of Toa Baja, in a presentation by PR Best Boxing Promotions (PRBBP), in association with Top Rank. The fights were televised as part of the eight edition of “A Puno Limpio”

Chelo Gonzalez (18-0, 13 KOs) retained his Latino lightweight championship of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), with a ten round unanimous decision over Fernando Trejo (33-16-6 and 19 KOs). All three judges scores the fight 99-91.

 

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By: SHEEFENI NIKODEMUS

NESTOR ‘Sunshine’ Tobias on Wednesday won the WBO Africa Promoter of the Year award for the second successive year.

Financial constraints meant that he could not accept the award in person.
Tobias will be officially presented with the award byWBO fourth vice president Andrew Smale before WBO Africa bantamweight Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda’s title defence fight next Saturday.
Arguably the top promoter in the country, Tobias said yesterday that he was not surprised to win the prestigious prize as it was testimony to the hard work put it by his stable, a point his detractors need to take note of.
“It’s through the boxers’ hard work and commitment that we are able to get these awards. To those people who are always talking negative about us, they should know that these things don’t come for free. For us boxing is our livelihood. It is all we do.”
The WBO Africa Boxer of the Year 2011 was awarded to of Ghana, a man Tobias felt had scored a dubious victory over Namibia’s Vikapita Meroro in July.
Ambunda, who faces challenger Bongani Mahlangu from South Africa, was the recipient of the award last year.

ROCK STATUS

Keeping true to his nature, Tobias seized the opportunity to promote Ambunda’s upcoming fight. ‘The Rock’ Ambunda has the makings of a world champion, the handler said.
Tobias has plenty of faith in the fighter, whom he said has the potential to emulate former two-time middleweight world champion Harry ‘Onkugo’ Simon and former WBA lightweight title holder Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses.
According to Tobias, the 31-year-old Ambunda can secure his chance at world title shot once he disposes of Mahlangu.
The WBO bantamweight world strap is now vacant after two time champion Nonito Donaire stepped up a division, a development that has edged Ambunda closer to realising his dream.
“Ambunda is at his peak now,” Tobias said.
“He is rated number three in world and if he wins he can improve that position and become the mandatory challenger.
“It’s also motivation for him. I want him to be the third guy from Namibia to fight for a world title.”

 

http://www.namibian.com.na/sport/local/full-story/archive/2011/october/article/wbo-awards-tobias-again/

The 24th Annual WBO Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico came to a conclusion yesterday with what many boxing insiders consider the most entertaining events of the week: the Championship and Ratings committee meetings and the award ceremony.

The proceedings kicked off in the Morning as president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel and the board entertained motions from the floor from numerous promoters and even fighters to move up the WBO workd rankings, and in some instances to enter the world rankings altogether. As always, colorful American promoter Gary Shaw stole the show with his frequent jokes, often at the expense of a fellow promoter , who had the misfortune of attending the event wearing a pink shirt and matching pink shoes.

“First of all, anyone wearing pink and pink sneakers should not be allowed at this microphone,” Shaw said jokingly, “he should only be allowed to argue for women’s fights.”

The first motion kicked off with Japanese promoter Ulysses G. Sato, who made a motion to see Japanese mini-flyweight Katsunari Takayama move into the top ten (he is currently ranked #12).

From there, Philippine promoter Mike Aldeguer of ALA Boxing told the board that his junior flyweight champion, Ramon Garcia, was tentatively looking to fight contender Tommy Seran on March 17 of 2012. A representative of Carlos Rueben Dario Ruiz, the #8 ranked contender and Latino champion, made no demands, but did make sure that the board was familiar with his accomplishments and desire to fight for a world title if the opportunity arose. It was a statement that brought a lighthearted response from President Valcarcel.

“If you talk to the Filipinos, they would love to fight you!” joked Valcarcel, “They love to fight the Argentines!”

Another argument from the floor to see Spanish veteran Rafael Lozano into the WBO rankings brought more lighthearted jabs from the President. Although Lozano possesses a 25-3 record, and won both a Bronze medal in the Olympics and the Spanish Junior Flyweight title in his last fight, many couldn’t help but notice his advanced age (he is 41-years old). When reminded of the Bronze medal, Valcarcel quipped “When?! In 1974?!”

From there the discussions moved to the Flyweight discussion where President Valcarcel noted that champion Brian Viloria would fight #1 contender Giovani Segura of Mexico in his next fight. A discussion of the 115-pound division talk about popular champion Omar Narvaez of Argentina, and an argument from Gary Shaw to move Cesar Seda Jr., the #2 ranked contender from Puerto Rico, into a title fight. Offering a box-off with #1 contender Isack Junior, Shaw was determined to see his young contender fighting for the world title before the next convention. Another argument from the Argentine delegation was entertained for #6 ranked contender Roberto Sosa, the unbeaten prospect from Argentina with a 21-0 record to move into the top five.

At Bantamweight the discussion was all around whether or not champion Nonito Donaire was going to move up in weight or not. Philippine promoter Mike Aldeguer argued for his fighter, Alex John Banal to fight in a title fight for a vacant title if that did occur (Banal is currently the #2 contender) while Gary Shaw argued for Vic Darchinyan.

At Junior Featherweight President Valcarcel announced that champion Jorge Arce had nine months to make his mandatory title defense. Top Rank’s Carl Moretti announced that it appeared that he would be fighting in Mexico in January against a ranked fighter for his first title defense. Gary Shaw argued along side Alex Camponovo for the winner of the Showtime fight between Chris Avalos (#4) and Jonathan Romero (#14) to move into the #1 slot. The fight is slated for December 2 on Showtime. Presedent Valcarcel was open to the idea, but wouldn’t commit to the jump just yet.

“We don’t’ have to decide now,” commented Vaslcarcel, “We need the committee to decide if the fighter moves to #1.”

At Featherweight there was a buzz over the fact that previous #1 contender Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo of Thailand won another organizations championship, thus opening up the top ten more movement. An argument was made for undefeated Aussie Joel Brunker to move into the top ten, before it was recognized that he had in fact moved into the #5 slot. Alex Camponovo wanted Abraham Lopez (16-0) to enter the rankings, as well as Colombian bomber Daluis Prescott (23-0), the brother of Breidis.

Despite Prescott’s impressive record, President Valcarcel did raise some concerns with the level of opposition. In Prescott’s last fight, he stopped Elkin Zavaleta, who had a less than stellar record of (3-22) and Valcarcel pointed out that he fought Victor Peralta twice (Peralta has a 1-28-2 record).

From there, many familiar names were offered to the board in an attempt to move up the rankings, including Ray Bautista from the Philippines.

Gary Shaw then introduced a young, undefeated prospect named Jose Pedraza (4-0), a Puerto Rican who Shaw promised would become very familiar to the world of boxing in the coming years. President Valcarcel suggested a fight with Pedraza for a Youth title, a suggestion that Pedraza warmly embraced.

“That’s what I want to do,” commented the young Puerto Rican fighter, “I would be very happy to hold that belt.”

Although the highest weight classes saw many familiar names discussed as they argued to move up, and in some instances remain in, the world rankings, there was little question that there would also be many newcomers entering the rankings. Although Gary Shaw had words with Argentine promoter Mario Margossian, the most interesting Shaw moment when he made a short, simple request for Chad Dawson to move up to the #1 spot at 175.

“The world saw what happened with Hopkins,” Shaw said, “Chad Dawson should be #1.”

At heavyweight the most noteworthy moment came when Chauncy Welliver, and his manager Roland Jankleson, stood before the podium and petitioned for a higher ranking. Welliver, the #10 ranked heavyweight, recently won the WBO China Zone championship, and with his growing popularity in China, pushed to see his ranking move up. Although Championship Committee Chairman Luis Batista Salas had a vigorous cross examination of Welliver and Jankleson, in which questions were raised about Welliver’s attempt to defend his WBO Asia-Pacific belt against Marcellus Brown (a fight that was not approved by the WBO), Welliver and Jankleson did seem to make the most of their opportunity to present their case to the board, citing the fact that Welliver is the most active fighter in the top ten, with over 50 wins and five fights in 2011 so far.

A strong argument from Markus Aslani followed, in which the German pushed to see Lebanese born prospect Manual Charr enter the top ten as well. Charr scored an impressive knockout over former contender Owen Beck in 2010 and former contender Danny Williams earlier this year. Also, Hedi Taouab pushed for undefeated Italian Francesco Pianeta and former world champion Ruslan Chagaev to enter the WBO rankings.

After the ranking the WBO proudly introduced their new webpage at www.wbo-int.com and announced that it would be unveiled to the world during the evening’s gala dinner. Finally, the grievance committee proposed a slight modification to Rule 13 (a)(2)(a), which referred to mandatory challenges.

The event concluded with the Gala dinner that evening in which the new web page was unveiled, and the annual awards were handed out. Golden Boy Promotions won three awards (NABO Promoter of the Year, and two Special Recognition Awards for Eric Gomez as matchmaker of the year and to Golden Boy Promotions from WBO Intercontinental), while Bob Arum and Top Rank won three as well (NABO Special Recognition Award, Executive of the Year award to Carfl Moretti , and Promoter of the Year for Bob Arum). Wladimir Klitschko won Fighter of the Year award, while Marco Huck won the Most Exciting Fighter of the Year Award. Mario Margossian won Latin Promoter of the Year, and Wilfred Sauerland won European Promoter of the Year. Yessica Bopp won Female Fighter of the Year, while Promoter Frank Warren received a Special Recognition Award, as well as Heavyweight Contender Chauncy Welliver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/wbo-convention-day-3-2-99916

Photos from: http://www.notifight.com/artman2/publish/Reporte_7/Baja_el_tel_n_de_la_24_Convenci_n.php