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Courtesy of the WBO└wbo_ibf_union

News that the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) are going to host a joint convention in December may not sound like much on the surface.

Conventions are conventions, after all. Plenty is discussed and celebrated, but they come and go and are largely forgotten until the next one comes along and the whole process starts again.

But this feels more important than that. The wishes of the two organizations to work together, and thus be stronger than if working independently, could prove a pivotal shift in the current boxing landscape.

It is no secret that Zuffa Boxing, the burgeoning promotional group headed by Dana White and Nick Khan, envision a sport without sanctioning bodies. It’s a view shared by plenty of fight fans.

But the WBO and the IBF are locking arms and getting ready to fight back.

“We have something that is somewhat provocative, and new,” IBF president Daryl Peoples explained.

“The IBF and the WBO share, approximately, 85 per cent membership. [WBO president] Gustavo [Olivieri] and I had had some discussions; with both of our organizations being based in the United States, we decided [together] we could address a whole bunch of issues affecting boxing.

“So, in the first time in the history of all four organizations, the IBF and the WBO have decided to hold a joint convention.

“There will be provocative things [discussed], judging, refereeing, and the administration of boxing overall.

“We’re also going to address one of the bigger challenges called Zuffa.”

Jai Opetaia, not so long ago one of the IBF’s flagship beltholders, was stripped of his cruiserweight title after opting to fight for the inaugural Zuffa belt in March. Efforts from Opetaia to get the IBF to play ball and allow their belt to be on the line alongside that of Zuffa’s, ultimately proved unsuccessful.

The rift is clearly far from over.

“We’re all family and trying to establish the same thing and that’s to give the opportunities to the fighters,” said WBO vice president Leon Panoncillo.

“We’re very happy that we’re collaborating with the IBF. We’re going to make boxing bigger; the belts do matter.”

The WBO and IBF convention will be held on December 9-13 at the Caribe Royal Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Matt Christie, a lifelong fight fan, has worked in boxing for more than 20 years. He left Boxing News in 2024 after 14 years, nine of which were spent as editor-in-chief. Before that, he was the producer of weekly boxing show “KOTV.” Now the co-host of “The Opening Bell” podcast and regularly used in the UK as a pundit, Matt was named as the Specialist Correspondent of the Year at the prestigious Sports Journalism Awards in 2021, which was the seventh SJA Award he accepted during his stint in the hot seat at Boxing News. The following year, he was inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame. He is a member of the BWAA and has been honored several times in their annual writing awards.

The IBF and WBO join forces to address ‘big challenge’ from Zuffa Boxing