(DEC 26) WBAN has rounded up the most outrageous / tragic events that have taken place in the sport in 2011. It would be impossible to list them all, but here are ten of our top picks---In no particular order: 

1. Female Boxer Mona Nelson arrested for murdering a 12-year old boy

Female boxer, 44-year old Mona Nelson, 1-3-0 (0KO) of Texas, was arrested as a suspect for the murder of 12-year old Jonathan Foster, of Houston, Texas. Jonathan had come up missing on Christmas eve, where the child was living with his mother and stepfather. The boy's body was discovered in a ditch burned beyond recognition. Nelson had admitted to police that she had been with Jonathan on the day he came up missing, and she also made an admission to the police that she was the one disposing of his body in the ditch----but made no confession as to actually killing the boy.

2. Corruption at it's finest in the sport

On March 19th, in Montevideo, Uruguay, corruption reared it ugly head when reports began flooding into WBAN that Loli Munoz was ripped off when she fought Chris Namus. When viewing the video of the ninth round between Namus and Munoz, Namus appears to have been knocked down, and had lost her mouthpiece and had gained several seconds allowing her to recover. Then in the tenth round, the time was cut short at 1:28 seconds (rounds are two minutes in duration), and many believed that shorting the last round prevented Namus from being stopped.

3. Female Boxer Shot by her step father in the dressing room, just before stepping into ring to fight!

In April, female boxer Rola El-Halabi was shot just prior to her entering the ring to fight in Germany. Rola's alleged attacker was none other than her step father, Roy El-Halabi who was her former manager as of January.  The shooting incident occurred in her dressing room. Rola was set to fight Balijagic Adler for the vacant IBF lightweight title.

4. Past WBAN Photographer loses her life

In a very tragic event, past WBAN photographer Patricia Butaud, 56, died in March. According to the Port Arthur Police Department, Butaud died after jumping from the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. Witnesses had told officers they saw a woman park her vehicle at the top of the bridge at about 5:50 p.m. March 25. She exited her vehicle, looked over the side of the bridge and jumped.

5. "AIBA" skirting the issue with amateur boxers

There was one issue that came up in 2011, that was no more than a form of discrimination for female boxers. The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) wanted the female boxers to wear "skirts" instead of "Shorts". The AIBA justifies the skirts as it would distinguish female boxers from male boxers. At this point in time it is "Optional" for the boxers. WBAN loved Ireland's superstar amateur boxer, Katie Taylor stance on the "skirts". Taylor said that she had no plans to wear a skirt, and that she didn't even wear mini-skirts when she was not boxing.

6. No women nominated by the Boxing Writers Association at 86 Annual Awards Dinner

In May, WBAN received press information in regards to the 86 Annual Awards Dinner, presented by The awards dinner presented by the Boxing Writers Association of America was set to take place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. In receiving the materials on this event, I checked over who was being honored ---and noticed that there were no females picked on the "Honors" list. In light of the fact that the sport in present time has evolved into including females that it would be more than appropriate to at least consider this fact---and at least consider including women in the awards. In doing this story---it was pointed out to me that Kathy Duva was nominated in two categories this year---so I did go to their website to see the history of their annual awards. In the last five years, not including 2011---there were no females listed on their website for honors or awards, for the exception of Dr. Margaret Goodman in 2006.

7.  Youth Title Fights

WBAN ran several stories on "Youth" title bouts, that made absolutely no sense.  In one bout, one of the female boxers was 28 years old.  In another "youth" title bout, one of the boxers was making her pro debut in the title bout. 

8. Six Round Title Fights

As unbelievable as it may sound---the sport did a complete reverse by a couple of federations who carelessly and without much thought obviously, decided they would devalue women boxers by allowing them to fight "12" minutes for a title belt. WBAN decided to call all six-round title bouts "Baby Belts." Hopefully we see no more "Baby Belts" in 2012.

9. Declining quality of World Title bouts

We saw way too many of these in the year 2011. We saw a definite decline in the caliber of title fights that have been sanctioned by some of these organizations with little regards to ratings, records, activity and more.

10. First Boxer ever to say she would toss her world title belts in the trash!

WBAN ran a story in November on Melissa Hernandez who said that before the WIBA and the "President" Ryan Wissow stripped her for not defending her title against a 1-0 fighter, Hernandez decided to not only vacate the title but physically toss them in the dumpster. Hernandez stated, "It's a slap in the face to the sport that I love. It's a slap in the face to the women who bust their butts everyday in the gym. The only way Valentina Shevchenko should be involved in a title fight is if she bought a ticket." Hernandez was referring to a fight that she was offered to fight Shevchenko. Hernandez added, "I am so sick of these sanctioning bodies doing this and its time someone stands up for woman's boxing."

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