The World Boxing Council, which is regarded by many as the most legitimate world title to win of the many available in the boxing arena held their annual conference in Las Vegas last week, and there were some good initiatives, discussed which will hopefully become reality in 2012.
Boxing has been criticized for many years over the scoring of bouts, and there is no doubt that this has harmed the sport’s credibility. The WBC are advocating that they will announce the scores after round 4 and round 8 of all of their WBC World title and eliminator fights, so that the fans, and the corners know exactly where their man or woman stands in the fight. This should be a winner for the fans too; as if a fighter is well behind on the scorecards by round 8 he is going to have to go for a knockout in the last four rounds to have any chance of victory.
Hopefully this will be instigated, as it is a move that all in attendance agreed would benefit the sport.
Unlike many other sports stars boxers do not have any pension fund when their time in the ring is over, and as all fans have witnessed many find themselves with a lot less money than they thought due to the hangers on around them in their entourage suddenly spiriting funds away.
Jose Suleiman the President of the WBC announced at the conference that the WBC would be introducing a pension plan for its fighters. This is again a great move and let us hope that it is well managed and audited regularly to ensure that these athletes get what they deserve and require in retirement.
