Women's International Boxing Association

The Women's International Boxing Association (WIBA) a sanctioning body for women's professional boxing came into existence in July 2000, and quickly grew into a major force in the sport.

The WIBA was officially founded by American Ryan Wissow, and Colombian Luis Bello-Diaz. Ryan Wissow is the president and owner of the WIBA. Luis Bello-Diaz heads the Universal Boxing Council (UBC), an obscure men's sanctioning body headquartered in Bello's hometown of Cartagena, Colombia. The UBC is a separate entity from the WIBA.

WIBA is considered by many within the sport as the best and most respected sanctioning body in women's professional boxing, for a number of reasons. WIBA is almost universally praised in the boxing community for their accurate and up-to-date ratings, and also for the overall consistent quality of WIBA title fights. The contenders rated by the WIBA are worthy of their status, and most of the WIBA champions are considered the legitimate best of their respective weight divisions.

WIBA is seen by many within the sport as the crown jewel of women's boxing, distinguishing itself from other sanctioning bodies.

WIBA has had title fights in Asia, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean, in addition to the USA. WIBA is very geographically balanced, having champions and title fights in many parts of the world, and giving opportunities to female fighters all over the globe, truly opening up the sport worldwide.

WIBA is credited by some in the sport for having "raised the bar" of women's professional boxing, helping to make it a more respectable professional sport, not only by having higher standards and ethics, but also by adding depth to the talent pool by including quality female fighters from all over the world into its ratings and title fights.

WIBA is also credited for several 'firsts' in the sport. WIBA was the first to establish a 102 pound division for women's boxing, citing the need for a smaller weight class for female boxers. WIBA is also credited for legalizing women's professional boxing in the Philippines. Women's professional boxing was not legal in the Philippines (despite the fact that the island nation has a strong amateur women's boxing team). Ryan Wissow and the WIBA worked with the Games and Amusement Board (GAB), who oversee all professional sports in the Philippines, to change the laws in their books to allow women to box there professionally. The WIBA is also responsible for sanctioning the very first title fight, male or female, to take place in Guyana.

The WIBA rates all worthy professional female boxers, including champions of other sanctioning bodies. WIBA also encourages unification bouts with other major women's sanctioning bodies like the IWBF, IFBA, WIBF, and the WBC Female Title.

WIBA's current and former champions include Laila Ali, Jackie Frazier-Lyde, Ann Wolfe, Leatitia Robinson, Gina Guidi, Sumya Anani, Kara Ro, Chevelle Hallback, Maribel Zurita, Ria Ramnarine, Emiko Raika, Marcela Acuña, Ada Vélez, Anita Christensen, Melinda Cooper, Jenifer Alcorn, Jeannine Garside, Mary Jo Sanders, Duda Yankovich and Melissa Hernández.

Controversy

On June 5, 2014, Ryan Wissow who serves as president and owner of W.I.B.A took to the social media network Facebook and was quoted saying "American Women (in general) are cunts, shallow, superficial, stuck up bitches". Many in the boxing community was upset and many women boxers were insulted those who came out voicing their disgust were Melissa Hernández, Siblings Amanda and Cindy Serrano, Carlette Ewell, Ronica Jeffrey, Lisa Garland amongst others.

See also

• International Female Boxers Association
• International Women's Boxing Federation
• Women's International Boxing Federation