(DEC 28)  In 2014, it has been one of the most progressive years for WBAN.  We had some major add-ons to WBAN, and this year created the history-first International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF).  I also traveled quite a bit to many of the boxing events and other boxing related events including the fantastic WBC Women's Boxing Convention that was held in September of 2014. 

Progress made in 2014:

Our first inaugural induction ceremony that  took place in July of 2014, at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. [www.iwbhf.com] Our inductees included, Lucia Rijker, Christy Martin, Bonnie Canino, Christy Halbert, JoAnn Hagen, Barbara Buttrick,  and Regina Halmich.  Many current / retired female and male world champions, top world amateur boxers, and boxing community were in attendance at this great event.

History-First 2014 IWBHF Induction Ceremony

In 2014, we opened up the WBAN member's site to the public---releasing over 550 photo/video galleries. Within the newly released member's site, it included the Master Search that was created by Dee Williams, that not only includes the female boxers records, the World rating with WBAN, but any videos or photo galleries connected with that boxer. Website: womenboxingrecords.com

We also added the first ever extensive website on the History of Women's Boxing.  It is a huge historical database which will continuously be updated.  I first began my extensive research on the history of women's boxing in Sept. of  1996, and released some of that research in May of 1998 on WBAN when we first became live on the Internet.  This is an extensive addition to that segment from WBAN.  The Historical Database is On this URL:  wbanmember.com.

A very cool feature was added to WBAN in 2014----in addition to the Master Search that is a huge database of Videos. Right now we have over 940 videos on the Video Catalog Segment.  We can give a big shout out to Dee Williams for creating this database format for boxing fans to enjoy the many full fight videos, interviews, and much more on WBAN!

Video Catalog

So what is on the horizon for 2015?

One of the top projects is in preparation of our International Women's boxing Hall of Fame for 2015.  On December 1, 2014, we made our major announcement of our 2015 inductees.  The 2015 class  includes six boxers from the modern era of female boxing (1990-2010), one pioneer female fighter of the 1950s and a ring official who trail-blazed past the gender barriers in the field of refereeing.  

Huge IWBHF Flyer

The IWBHF induction will be held on July 11, 2015, 1:30-4:30 PM in the beautiful top Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.. It is an absolute beautiful location and  ballroom for this semi-formal "Red Carpet" event.  The event will be webcasted live worldwide.

Also, on the day of the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, following our ceremony, at 6:00 pm, the doors open for the finals of the 2015 National Women's Golden Gloves Tournament, that will be at the Panorama Ballroom at the Hyatt.  We will be releasing the ticket information in the first part of January 2015, so be on the lookout for our next press release on the IWBHF.

I anticipate that in 2015, we will continue to add more biographies, photo galleries, 24-7 reports from all the many contributing writers and photographers that cover the sport, and much, much more....

We will also encourage the promoters and matchmakers to feature women's boxing on their boxing cards.  This week we released a huge selection of "Wish List" bouts that the boxing fans would like to see on cards.  [Wish List for 2015].

So....to all who follow the sport, are involved in the sport...let's make 2015 a great year for the sport.  If you have stories, photos, events that you would like featured on WBAN, contact us. 

We would really like to see you at the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, on July 11th, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,  so keep on the lookout for the ongoing news on this great upcoming event!