(DEC 19) Boxing commentator
Claudia Trejos kicked off the 103rd World Boxing
Association (WBA) Convention in Orlando, Florida at the Caribe
Royale Hotel on Friday, December 13th with the Opening
Ceremony. The boxing event titled “Most Valuable Prospects 10”
featured a women’s bout in the middleweight division. Two-time
Olympian Tammara “Tamm” Thibeault made her professional debut
against middleweight contender Natasha “The Nightmare” Spence.
Both boxers are from Canada. Thibeault uses a southpaw stance
whereas Spence is orthodox. The bout was scheduled for four
rounds, but the rounds were three minutes each instead of the
customary two minutes usually in women’s boxing.
Thibeault had a
significant height advantage over Spence and this was noticeable
at the face-off after the weigh-in. At 6 feet tall, Thibeault
towered over Spence who is 5’5”. Thibeault won every round
easily. She threw and landed more punches than Spence.
Thibeault was quicker and more precise with her punches. The
three judges scored the fight identically at 40-36 for Thibeault
who won by unanimous decision. Thibeault had a successful pro
debut and began her career at 1-0, 0 KOs. Spence’s record is
now 8-7-2, 6 KOs. Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) had signed
Thibeault to a promotional contract. Promoter Jake Paul said
after her win against Spence that Thibeault is “the future of
the sport.”
The WBA Directorate
Meeting had representatives from the six regions of the WBA.
These regions are basically all the continents except for
Antarctica: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania
(Australia), and Fedelatin (South America). During the meeting,
each representative introduced themselves and addressed any
concerns. WBA President Gilberto Mendoza Jr. said that he wants
to “make boxing better.”
The WBA had separate
meetings for the ratings and championship committees. Each
meeting began for female boxers. Male boxers were on the agenda
later. The meeting regarding the ratings was for managers
and/or promoters to ask the committee to either rate the boxer
that they represent or rate them higher if they are already
rated by the WBA. A boxer may accompany their manager and/or
promoter to the microphone and speak to the committee as well.
These are requests made to the committee which are not
necessarily granted. The committee will consider the requests
after the convention and make their decisions later.
Even though Claressa
Shields is scheduled to fight for the vacant and inaugural WBA
heavyweight title against Danielle Perkins on February 2nd, this
weight class was not discussed during the ratings or
championship committee meetings. The WBA does not have any
ratings for this division yet. MVP Director of Boxing Mike
Leanardi asked the ratings committee to include Thibeault in the
middleweight ratings because she defeated Spence who is rated
No. 10. MVP also requested for super flyweight Krystal
Rosado-Ortiz to be included in the WBA ratings. A
representative of flyweight Alexas Kubicki requested for her to
be rated by the WBA. Kubicki is rated No. 7 by the computerized
ratings of the IBO.
During the meeting
regarding the championships, the middleweight and lightweight
divisions were discussed. The WBA female champions for those
divisions have not defended their titles for over one year
because they have fought in other divisions. Claressa Shields
last defended her middleweight title on 6/3/2023. Katie Taylor
last defended her lightweight title on 10/29/2022. Taylor is
also the WBA super lightweight champion. Shields last fought in
the light heavyweight division and won the vacant WBO light
heavyweight title. There are boxers who could hold a “special
permit” which means that they can fight for titles in other
weight classes while remaining as champion in another weight
class.
Sara Fina of Split-T
Management requested that featherweight Tiara Brown be made the
mandatory challenger for WBA featherweight champion Amanda
Serrano or fight interim WBA featherweight champion Jennifer
Miranda. An interim title was made because Serrano had not
defended her featherweight title since 10/27/2023. Serrano had
fought super lightweight champion Katie Taylor in a rematch
about a month ago. Taylor won by a controversial unanimous
decision. No interim titles were made by the WBA in the
middleweight and lightweight divisions even though Shields and
Taylor have not defended those titles for longer than Serrano.
WBA belts were given
to
Christy Martin at the boxing event
and Claressa Shields at
the Gala Dinner for their achievements in boxing and increasing
the growth and popularity of women’s boxing. Martin never had
an opportunity to win a WBA title during her career.
Current WBA female
world champions who attended were light heavyweight Che
Kenneally, super middleweight Franchon Crews Dezurn,
middleweight Claressa Shields, super featherweight Alycia
Baumgardner, featherweight Amanda Serrano, and interim
featherweight Jennifer Miranda. WBC interim super flyweight
champion Ginny Fuchs was also in attendance. Former WBA female
championswho attended were lightweight Cecilia Communales, super
featherweight Kina Malpartida, featherweight Jelena
Mrdjenovich, and bantamweight & super bantamweight Mayerlin
Rivas.
Former champions from other sanctioning bodies who
attended were Christy Martin, Lisa Holewyne, and
Carolina Raquel Duer. Current contenders who attended were middleweight
Tammara
Thibeault, middleweight Natasha Spence, lightweight
Stephanie
Han, bantamweight Florencia Ayelen Juarez, super flyweight
Jasmine Artiga, and flyweight Jacqueline Calvo. Also in
attendance were bantamweight pro boxer Veronica Zuluaga and
flyweight amateur boxer Clara Cortes.
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