World Boxing Association
 |
|
| Abbreviation | WBA |
|---|---|
| Motto | Simply the pioneers |
| Formation | 1962 |
| Purpose | Boxing sanctioning organization |
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Region served
|
Worldwide |
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President
|
Gilberto Mendoza |
|
Main organ
|
General Assembly |
| Website | www |
The World Boxing Association (WBA) is one of four major organizations which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the IBF, WBC and WBO. The WBA awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. Founded in the United States in 1921 by thirteen state representatives as the National Boxing Association (NBA), in 1962 it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity worldwide, and began to gain other nations as members.
By 1975, a majority of votes were held by Latin American nations, and the organization headquarters were moved to Panama. After being located during the 1990s and early 2000s in Venezuela, the organization offices returned to Panama in 2007. It is the oldest of the four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The World Boxing Association can be traced back to the original National Boxing Association, organized in the United States in 1921. The first bout it recognized was the Jack Dempsey–Georges Carpentier Heavyweight Championship bout in New Jersey.
The NBA was formed by representatives from thirteen American states, including Sam Milner, to counterbalance the influence that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) wielded in the boxing world. The NBA and the NYSAC sometimes crowned different world champions in the same division, leading to confusion about who was the real champion.
The International Boxing Research Organization describes the early NBA as follows:
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