World Boxing Association

:WBA is also an abbreviation for West Bromwich Albion F.C., an English football team.

Super Champion

Nowadays the WBA has created a new concept called Super-Champion, something many boxing fans consider to be ridiculous and harmful to the sport's credibility. A WBA Super-Champion is recognized when a boxer holds a WBA title simultaneously with at least one other title (sanctioned by rivals the WBC, IBF, and sometimes the WBO) in the same weight class. Such multiple titleholders are typically called unified champions. When a boxer becomes WBA Super-Champion of his division, he is stripped of its "regular" championship. Next, two contenders are chosen to fight for the vacated (non-Super) WBA belt. While most boxing media continue to recognize the Super-Champion as the division's only "WBA Champion", this new doctrine has proven confusing to many; nonetheless, it has been tolerated by the other leading boxing groups. The WBA's explanation is that the Super designation allows unified champions to have double the time to prepare for title defenses (18 months, instead of the usual 9). The true motive may be greed: By having potentially 2 versions of each weight class' championship, the WBA can double their income (from sanctioning fees : the premium that sanctioning bodies charge promoters for lending their bouts the extra prestige -- and drawing power -- of a "championship" designation)http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2135889.

Related Topics:
WBC - IBF - WBO

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