By Boxing Bob Newman
It’s been said many times, “Boxing is a business.” It can be further expressed as a global business, and as far as the global economy is concerned, China figures largely in all facets. So too is it becoming more apparent in the sport and business of boxing. In the last ten years, China’s has presence has grown in amateur boxing all the way to the Olympic level, a home grown world champion has been produced (Xiao Zhong Xiong- WBC minimumweight), two world conventions have been held (WBA and WBA- both in the city Chengdu in 2007 and 2008 respectively), with a third to be held by the WBC from November 2-7th in Kunming this year. The IBF is joining the fray in full force with the creation of IBF China. Over the last six months, IBF president Daryl Peoples has journeyed to China four times to oversee meetings, training seminars and provide direction and oversight in the development in all aspects of the formation of IBF China.
In May of this year, a ring officials seminar was held to provide training and certification for Chinese ring officials- both judges and referees. World class referee Mark Nelson oversaw the referee seminar, utilizing his Power Point presentation used in his ABC seminars. Nelson also spent the entire day working with some 60 Chinese officials on ring mechanics and various situations in the ring.
World class judge Joseph Pasquale conducted the judging seminar over two days. Pasquale covered the IBF scoring standards which had been translated in advance for the student officials to study. Pasquale also used the video format developed by judge Tommy Kaczmarek, which practiced scoring over 12 rounds of boxing. The rounds had penalties, swings in the action, and multiple knockdowns.
The next two sessions the students were given a written test and then a scoring test of three video rounds of boxing.
The most recent seminar again in Beijing in August, was administered to a class of 45 officials. Veteran referee Roberto Ramirez conducted the referee seminar. Again the mix was amateur officials and former boxers. There were also some with pro experience on recent IBF China fight cards. Both the May and August seminars were followed by live fight cards in which several of the seminar attendees officiated, as Pasquale opined, “they were again all very professional and did very well-with several capable of officiating at any level of a pro contest.”
Speaking of fight cards, IBF China began conducting tournaments in March of this year and they have had 31 shows (approximately 186 bouts going into September) already throughout the country. The tournaments will end by December and the plan is to award 300 million dollars in prize money throughout the duration of the tournaments. The tournaments are is six divisions for males (122, 126, 135, 147, 160, 175) and two for females (105, 135). They go from qualifiers, to regionals, to nationals (which would be the IBF China title) to the IBF Asia title. The goal is to grow boxing in China so that eventually more Chinese boxers are included in the world rankings and have the opportunity to become world champions. IBF China also founded Chinese Professional Boxing Alliances, with more than 30 clubs in throughout the country to bolster their network, and to cultivate the training of ring officials as well as boxers.
Intermittently, IBF president Daryl Peoples was accompanied by ratings chairman Anibal Miramontes and or championship committee chairman Lindsey Tucker. Serving as president of IBF China is Mr. Ruihang Wang. On his designation as president and long range plans, Wang said, “I am extremely proud to accept this designation effective July 2015 as an opportunity to expand the world of boxing in China and promoting the collaboration between two great nations in China and the United States.” Wang continued, “This is a very exciting time for our sport and we see immense growth opportunities on a multi-cultural and cross-border basis in this field of boxing. In collaboration with our promoters, boxers and officials, we expect to quickly penetrate the market, enhance the worldwide fan base and discover cross-marketing opportunities. I look forward to promoting IBF matches and commercial activities in Greater China.”
For his part, President Peoples took some time after his recent return from Beijing to sum up the series of meetings and seminars in China and the overall development that is occurring with IBF China:
“We just returned from Crab Island Resort in Beijing, China where we were hosted by Jianq Qiang-IBF Asia Representative, Ruihang Wang-IBF China President.
Both seminars were well attended and received. The second seminar had more advanced material than the first seminar on May 7 and 8. They were well publicized in the Chinese boxing community and definitely generated interest among fans, officials, and gym owners.
There were a few very qualified referees and I was impressed by the consistency of the scoring by the judges. We plan to continue the training process. There were a few officials that I would consider for title fights in the very near future.
I think as we expand into more provinces we will see an increase in the number of officials attending our seminars. IBF Asia is planning an IBF Asia convention that will take place sometime next year. The emphasis of the convention will be on training ring officials, commission members and helping trainers transition to a more professional style of boxing.”
While it is still only speculation at this point, it can be said the China is stumping heavily to host the IBF’s 2016 annual convention in Beijing.
(Special thanks to Jeanette Salazar, Mark Nelson and Joseph Pasquale for their invaluable help, as well as IBF president Daryl Peoples)