{"id":608891,"date":"2026-05-28T18:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608891\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:01:09","slug":"wbo-and-ibf-unite-against-zuffa-boxing-over-future-of-world-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608891\/","title":{"rendered":"WBO And IBF Unite Against Zuffa Boxing Over Future Of World Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The comments came during discussions surrounding the first-ever joint convention between the WBO and IBF, scheduled for December in Orlando, Florida. The story was first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingscene.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BoxingScene<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have something that is somewhat provocative and new,\u201d said IBF president Daryl Peoples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe IBF and the WBO share, approximately, 85 percent membership. Gustavo and I had had some discussions; with both of our organizations being based in the United States, we decided that together we could address a whole bunch of issues affecting boxing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, in the first time in the history of all four organizations, the IBF and the WBO have decided to hold a joint convention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be provocative things discussed, judging, refereeing, and the administration of boxing overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re also going to address one of the bigger challenges called Zuffa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The comments are significant because Zuffa Boxing has repeatedly signaled that it wants a UFC-style system with fewer belts and less influence from sanctioning bodies. Many boxing fans have long criticized the current structure because of multiple champions, sanctioning fees, interim titles, and conflicting mandatory obligations.<\/p>\n<p>The growing friction between Zuffa and sanctioning bodies became more visible earlier this year when Jai Opetaia was stripped of his IBF cruiserweight title after choosing to fight for the inaugural Zuffa belt instead. Attempts to have both titles recognized together reportedly failed.<\/p>\n<p>WBO vice president Leon Panoncillo also stressed the importance of sanctioning bodies continuing to work together as pressure from Zuffa increases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all family and trying to establish the same thing, and that\u2019s to give the opportunities to the fighters,\u201d said Panoncillo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very happy that we\u2019re collaborating with the IBF. We\u2019re going to make boxing bigger; the belts do matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tom Reynolds is a boxing analyst covering major fights and career turning points, with a focus on performance, trajectory, and long-term implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The comments came during discussions surrounding the first-ever joint convention between the WBO and IBF, scheduled for December&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-608891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}