WBA Convention Day Three

Pulev-Miller for heavyweight title? Akhmadaliev to be named mandatory for Inoue?

By David Finger
Photos: Sumio Yamada (Photos to come.)

The third day of the 103rd Annual WBA Convention continued Saturday morning at the Caribe Royal Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida with the medical advisory committee report. Starting with Dr. Fernando Levaro, who did a presentation on hand injuries and the upper extremities. It was an effective, although sometimes shocking, presentation on the types of treatment options for injuries to the hands and arms.

This was followed by Dr. Nina Radcliff who did a presentation on “Sex…(& Gender) and Boxing.” Dr. Radcliff discussed the distinction between gender and biological sex and discussed the emerging trend of gender being an issue in sports and in particular women’s sports. She also expressed her medical opinion that there exists an undeniable advantage for biological men in women’s sports (an advantage that remains even if they have gone through a process of transitioning).

Dr. Louis Durkin, who works closely with the Florida Athletic Commission and is president of the Association of Ringside Physicians, followed Dr. Radcliff with a presentation entitled “What to Look for in Your Ringside Physician.” Dr. Durkin’s presentation was undoubtedly the most relevant one for the attendees, as he used the cut in the recent Amanda Serrano v. Katie Taylor fight as an example of what to look for in a ringside physician (Dr. Durkin concurred with the ringside physician in the Serrano-Taylor fight, who elected not to stop the fight after Serrano was cut after a clash of heads). He also encouraged attendees of the WBA convention to also attend the Association of Ringside Physicians Convention in Las Vegas from September 26-29.

The next presentation was on “MHHS-TMC Campus and TIRR Overview” by Dr. Adan Rios from Houston. Dr. Rios talked at length about being not only a fan of the sport of boxing, but his personal history in boxing, including being in George Foreman’s corner when Foreman fought for the world title. Following Dr. Rios was a presentation on anti-doping measures by Dr. Sail Saucedo.

After the medical advisory committee report, a brief presentation followed on a relatively new sports equipment company called Instinct Fighting Gear from California.

Before lunch, a boxing master’s class took place, allowing attendees to get some boxing lessons from some of the WBA fighters and champions.

Women’s Championship Committee Meeting

After lunch, the main event kicked off with the championship committee meeting at 2:30 PM. The championship committee meeting kicked off with the female champions, starting at light heavyweight. Marshall Kauffman made a request for Danielle Perkins, although the request was somewhat moot as Perkins is already scheduled to fight champion Claressa Shields in February.

In the super-middleweight division champion Franchon Crews Dezurn spoke to the committee and reiterated that they had a fight lined up in early 2025 and would be formally announcing it soon. At 135-pounds Marshall Kaufman again spoke on behalf of his undefeated contender Stephanie Han, who is currently ranked #2, requesting a fight for the vacant title if champion Katie Taylor moves up in weight or otherwise vacates the belt. At 130-pounds, champion Alycia Baumgardner spoke and indicated that she was “willing to fight whoever.”

At 126-pounds Sara Fina of Split-T Management spoke on behalf of undefeated Tiara Brown (17-0) and requested that Brown be named a mandatory for champion Amanda Serrano or in the alternative be positioned to fight WBA interim champion Jennifer Miranda in an eliminator.

Men’s Championship Committee Meeting

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the men’s championship committee meeting came out of the biggest division in the sport. Newly crowned heavyweight champion Kubrat Pulev, who just defeated Mahmoud Charr for the world title (Oleksandr Usyk is the heavyweight “super champion”) may be in the unenviable position of having to fight a mandatory in six months, as opposed to being given a voluntary defense. With a clarification as to if he was entitled to a voluntary defense or not, what was also clear was that if the Pulev-Charr fight was a mandatory or was not a mandatory, much of the discussion was due to the fact that a fight seems to be close to being made for the WBA belt. A potential Pulev-Jarrell Miller fight seems to be close to being made, with the only issue being the status of Pulev’s mandatory defense. As it appears to be clear that both Pulev’s camp and Miller’s camp are eager to make the fight happen, the only question is if Pulev will have to fight a mandatory or if he can seek a “special permit” to allow the Pulev-Miller fight to proceed. Representatives of #4 ranked Lenier Piro (Leon Margules) expressed a desire to see more elimination fights to help clear up the logjam in the heavyweight division while representatives for #3 ranked Michael Hunter argued that Hunter should be named the mandatory as he is currently ranked #3 and the top two fighters are unlikely to be fighting for the WBA world title in the near future.

The other big news in during the men’s discussion at the championship committee meeting was the issue of if #1 ranked super-bantamweight Murodjon Akhmadaliev should be named mandatory for champion Naoya Inoue. Kevin Rooney from Matchroom Boxing was keen on getting clarification on the issue, noting that “MJ” has been at #1 for some time and that it was becoming apparent that Inoue was not interested in fighting the Uzbek. Although Rooney didn’t receive an answer, it did seem like the championship committee was open to the request and that Akhmadaliev would be getting the coveted “mandatory” tag in the near future.

Gala Dinner

With the championship committee wrapping up early, the attendees had a few hours before the Gala Dinner at 8 PM. It would prove to be an exciting night of festivities as host Lupe Contreras started by introducing legendary former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. Next up was a surprise visit from a legend of professional wrestling, the one and only “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Flair was awarded a WBA championship belt by Hopkins and WBA President Gilberto Mendoza Jr., a surprising development that clearly touched the former NWA, WCW, and WWE heavyweight champion.

“I had no idea about this,” Flair noted. “I’m a huge fan. I won a lot of titles, but this is the biggest title I’ve ever been given in my life.”

Also introduced was IBF president Daryl Peoples before the WBA gave out awards to several journalists for their work in covering the sport of boxing, including one to this writer.

Another award was given out to Claressa Shields before dinner. After dinner dozens of WBA contenders and current and former champions took to the stage to be honored and recognized by the attendees.

Tomorrow will see the final day of the WBA convention with the Officials’ Seminar in the morning followed by the closing ceremony at 2 PM.

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