WBA

The World Boxing Association (WBA) can be rooted back to the original sports NBA, the National Boxing Association, which was originated in 1921, the first bout recognized by the organization being the Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpenter event in New Jersey.

The world at the time recovering from a war, and many athletes had joined the military to defend their colors, so boxing became a way for many to entertain themselves.

Promoter Tex Rickard, an NBA benefactor and the Don King of his day, helped to put some of the nba's title fights, many of which made history.

But Rickard died unexpectedly in 1931 of appendicitis and the NBA had to rely more on their champions' ability to make themselves household names. By then, the great and legendary Joe Louis was approaching his championship years, and he won the Heavyweight title in 1937, holding it until 1949, and taking the NBA and boxing thru another war. The fact Louis and many other champions joined the war and often came back to the USA to defend their titles made NBA boxing champions look even more heroic and patriotic.

Boxing became more and more popular with the advent of tv during the 50's, the home coming of many fighters, and the appearance of many new, young talented fighters.

In 1962 the NBA, faced with world changes after World War II and the Korean War, and with the growth of boxing's popularity world-wide, changed it's name officially to WBA , or World Boxing Association.

Thru the years, many competitors who also recognized world championship bouts sprung, and in that line, the WBC started out in 1963, the IBF in 1983, and the WBO in 1988.

The WBA hasnt been devoid of scandals, just like the rest of the boxing world, but most of the scandals have involved bad decisions on boxing fights and things that have been out of the organization's hand, like for example the famous bottle scandal in the Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello bout for the WBA's Jr Welterweight title, and the early stoppage scandal in the Michael Dokes-Mike Weaver heavyweight title fight.

The WBA sponsored the 1982 tragic world lightweight title bout between champion Ray Mancini and challenger Duk-Koo Kim, a fight that changed the boxing world forever after Kim died 6 days after the fight.

Gilberto Mendoza has been the President of the WBA since '82.

The WBA in the 90's moved it's central offices from Panama City, Panama, to Caracas, Venezuela.

Nowadays, the WBA has created a new concept named Super-Champion, something many boxing fans consider to be ridiculous and harmful to the sport of boxing.