In 2004, when Women Boxing Archive Network (WBAN) saw the lack of recognition for female boxers who were at the top of their game being ignored, with no opportunity at the time to earn an independent P4P World Title Belt and receive that recognition—-we became the history-first to offer such an opportunity. Male Boxers had that opportunity—female did not when we began this journey recognition for female boxers.
Many of you do not know this but it took nearly four years to find the right opportunity to have the history first take place. Initially when promoters found out that the WBAN Belt would not take one dollar for sanctioning fees, of course they wanted this beautiful uniquely belt on their card. What they did not realize is the fight had to be a genuine best fighting the best and otherwise we turned down many opportunities to have it on a fight that was not worthy of the best fighting the best.
This was the dilemma: They would end up having a top female world class boxer, who would be matched with an opponent that the WBAN Board would not approved. Our goal from 2004 and still remains that way is to keep the WBAN belt absolutely pristine, and it has been that way throughout the existence of the WBAN P4P World title belt.
So little did we know at the time, that it would not take place until June of 2008, when finally one promoter saw our vision, and put two world title fights on a sold-out venue, televised that had the IFBA as the Federation belt, alongside the history-first WBAN P4P belt.
We do not perform as a sanctioning body and no sanctioning fees are paid to us for the WBAN Independent World Title belt. When there is a world title fight that is considered the “Best of the Best”, and the promoter is interested in adding this prestigious independent WBAN belt to that fight—WBAN presents the matchup to the Selection board members.
The female boxer who wins the belt will hold that P4P belt for one year, and if it is not defended in a qualified board-approved world title fight that includes a federation belt(s) it becomes open for other top boxers to fight for it in the weight class. The WBAN board consists of three independent members, and the majority of the vote of these three members will be the final word on approving or disapproving the match.
With the experience of the WBAN belt board, we look at many aspects of who are the top female boxers, which can include independent ratings i.e., BoxRec, Ring TV, and who has fought who etc. Ratings are subjective in nature so that is taken into consideration when a belt is approved.
In a rematch clause in a female boxer’s contract, if the independent board approves a fight, and the fighters have a “rematch clause”, it is automatic that the fight is approved for the WBAN P4P belt—as long as neither boxer had a fight before the rematch and “lost” that fight(s). If either boxer lost a fight before the rematch, then WBAN treats the approval of the rematch as any fight and it will need to go to the board to seek that approval.
We hope this is just one of many steps that WBAN and the boxing community will initiate to enhance and promote the future success of the sport of women’s boxing. Never before has the talent level in the sport reached the levels it has achieved today and, hopefully, the WBAN P4P Independent belt will represent an unbiased and thoughtful recognition of those female boxers who truly are the ‘Best of the Best.”
Read about the History First – June 13th, 2008 story: WBAN Belts to debut Pay-Per-View All-Women’s Boxing Card!
The already highly anticipated June 13th, 2008, Pay-Per-View All-Women’s Boxing Card that will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, promises to be historic in yet another way, uniquely spotlighting the very best champions in the sport of Women’s boxing. In addition to presenting what may be the finest collection of female boxers ever assembled on one card, the Albuquerque card, WBAN will also be at the event, and will debut the Women Boxing Archive Network (WBAN) championship belts, designed to recognize the “best of the best” of the sport’s championship title holders.
Photo credit: Mary Ann Owen – with Chevelle Hallback/Winner
Judy Kulis/IFBA, and Sue TL Fox/President/founder of WBAN
From the star studded lineup of bouts, the Mary Jo Sanders-Holly Holm and Jeanine Garside-Chevelle Hallback bouts have been selected to inaugurate the WBAN award. The WBAN belt is similar to that presented by Ring Magazine to male champions, and will recognize and spotlight those fighters who have achieved a status over and above the formidable achievement of winning a championship title. On this card, the IFBA has sanctioned their world title belts for the Sanders-Holm and Hallback-Garside bouts.
Sue Fox, founder of WBAN, stressed that WBAN will not perform as a sanctioning body since no fees will be paid for the WBAN award, and that the designated bouts for WBAN recognition will be picked by an independent group of the sport’s advocates and website contributors, that includes Bernie McCoy, photo journalist Lori Steinhorst, and senior editor, Brian Ackley.
The computer-based WBAN rankings produced monthly by WBAN contributor, Dee Williams, will be relied on extensively as a means of evaluating the potential of each championship bout for recognition by WBAN. In order to insure complete impartiality, neither Fox nor Williams will be included as part of the selection group and there will be no discussion of the recognition of potential championship bouts between the selection group and Fox and Williams.
“It has long been our feeling that, given the number of championship belts, another level of special recognition is necessary in the sport and the WBAN belt is one way to fill that need.” “We are not a sanctioning body,” Fox said, “but WBAN recognizes the opportunity to focus public attention on these bouts and those champions who truly represent the gold standard for the sport of Women’s boxing. We hope this is just one of many steps that WBAN and the boxing community will initiate to enhance and promote the future success of the sport of women’s boxing. Never before has the talent level in the sport reached the levels it has achieved today and, hopefully, the WBAN belt will represent an unbiased and thoughtful recognition of those female fighters who truly are the ‘Best of the Best.”
SEE ALL OF OUR WBAN WORLD TITLE HOLDERS WHO HAVE FOUGHT FOR THIS PRESTIGIOUS INDEPENDENT BELT
WBAN Belt Holders – 2008 to 2019
