WBA President Emer. goes to "Rating Committee in the Sky" Since 1982, Classic members all know how legit the WBA ratings were over the past 30 plus years. Francisco Gilberto Mendoza, the President Emeritus of the World Boxing Association, passed away yesterday in Caracas, Venezuela after a long battle with cancer. At the WBA Convention in Panama last December he resigned as WBA President due to ill health. His son, also named Gilberto, took over. He had been President since 1982 when he was elected at the annual convention in Puerto Rico. One of Mendoza's greatest accomplishments as a commissioner was the creation of the programme known as “KO Drugs” which had been carried out by other countries for the past 25 years. Mendoza, an engineer by profession, was a highly educated man with a number of degrees and post graduate studies in his home country of Venezuela.
The WBA is the sport's oldest sanctioning body. Prior to being renamed the WBA in the early 1960s, it was the National Boxing Association (NBA). I was going to type something along the lines of "with its history going back close to 100 years, you'd think someone could come along and make it the premiere sanctioning body." But, looking back, I don't know if the people in charge ever made good decisions. From the moment they changed their name to the WBA, it seemed like they were always doomed. They stripped Ali when he signed for a rematch with Liston in 1964, and named Terrell and Machen as the two who would fight for the vacant title. They said fans were tired of rematches and were mad that a couple of guys were monopolizing the title (by staging constant rematches and rubber matches) ... but just naming the winner of a fight between two guys who weren't the best heavyweights as the "new" champ didn't seem to make much sense, either. They stripped Ali when he refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army - as if joining your country's military was a requirement to be a WBA champion? And they put together an eight-man elimination tournament that didn't include the top contender - Joe Frazier. When nearly the entire world's athletes were barred from competing in South Africa, and that nation was banned from participation in the Olympics due to apartheid, they were thrilled when Bob Foster and Victor Galindez defended the WBA titles in that country. They announced a four-man heavyweight title tournament in 1979 when Ali retired, involving two South African heavyweights, but didn't include top contender Earnie Shavers. And they allowed for the final to be held in South Africa, despite the anger of most of the world. They refused to EVER rate Larry Holmes, who was the dominant heavyweight in the world for eight years, and simply pretended he didn't exist because he held another organization's title. They stripped George Foreman - arguably the biggest star in the sport at that moment - for not defending against Tony Tucker (who couldn't even win the vacant belt against Seldon). They stripped Lennox Lewis, after he unified the belts against Holyfield, for not fighting John Ruiz. And Holyfield defeated Ruiz for the vacant belt. They created WBA "regular" and "interim" titles ... naming so many champions that they are currently holding an entire seven or eight man tournament JUST to unify ALL their OWN heavyweight belts. And that doesn't include all the nonsense they participated in over the years in the lower weight classes. Stripping Bob Foster for not defending against Vicente Rondon, only to have Foster fight Rondon and destroy him. Stripping Marvin Hagler for signing to fight Sugar Ray Leonard. Stripping Mike McCallum days before his unification with Toney. Stripping Wilfredo Vasquez days before his unification with Naseem Hamed. On and on and on. You might have to go back to 1956 - when they staged the Patterson-Moore vacant title fight - to find a moment where one of their decisions was actually viewed as a positive. Under Mendoza, the WBA became a complete joke. But, the guys he replaced weren't all that great either. What a complete train wreck of an organization.
The guy was the president of an organization for 30+ years, and he has no accomplishments other than his KO DRUGS program ... and we've all seen how drugs have all but been "eliminated" in both boxing and around the world. :huh:-nut Didn't the last two WBA "regular" heavyweight title fights end in fighters testing positive for drugs ... and both results are seen as suspicious (and one - against Oquendo - already having been overturned). And in a third - Fury vs. Wlad - Fury refused to consume anything that his team didn't bring into the country for fear of being drugged? That's a great "KO DRUGS" program the WBA is running there. Boxers are actually "AFRAID" of "BEING DRUGGED" if they challenge for a WBA title. atsch
To be fair to the guy, it takes something special to get yourself and your organization regarded as an even bigger bunch of c**ts than Sulaiman and the WBC, but somehow Mendoza managed it. An accomplishment that not many could match.
Wow! Thanks! I thought the WBC Suliaman banana republic mafia was the most corrupt organization but it sounds like the WBA holds its own! Do you have an opinion on the WBC?
Wtf is it with these old crooks replacing themselves with their sons, how is this achieved?? like a ****ing dictatorship! Imagine the NFL or FA boss just being replaced by their sons, wtf. Why boxing. WBA has three heavyweight world champions. Great post from dubblechin but that line alone tells you all you need to know about those clowns.
