World Boxing Council South African representative office opens

The World Boxing Council has officially opened its South African office launching an exciting new chapter.

The WBC South Africa Representative office will be used to further grow and enhance the activities and numerous initiatives and development programs of the WBC in the great nation of South Africa.

At the official launch held both before a live audience and on a streaming platform, guests were introduced to the executive management team of the WBC South Africa office who outlined the objectives and plans for this new initiative further boosting the advancement of boxing in a country that has historically had a rich and proud boxing reputation.

Guests were reminded of the legacy of the WBC in South Africa encapsulated in a speech by the late President Nelson Mandela who addressed the opening of the WBC Convention in South Africa in 2008 in the following terms:

“We are especially pleased and proud to welcome you (the WBC) here in the fifth year of our freedom. It gives us a chance to acknowledge the WBC’s role, in adding strength to the struggle for liberation by bringing the considerable force of the council and its boxers to the world campaign to isolate the apartheid regime.

“For these reasons, I felt that despite my busy schedule I needed to be present on the WBC’s first visit to this country, so that we can say, on behalf of all South Africans; for your contribution to the ending of apartheid, and for your engagement in the reconstruction of our society, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

The opening of the South African representative office is another important step in the ongoing engagement to reconstruct and contribute to the citizens of this country through a variety of programs and initiatives that the WBC has implemented throughout the world both aimed at amateur and professional boxing and through its WBC Care platform focused on the wider community.

The President of the WBC Mr. Mauricio Sulaiman Saldivar addressed the guests and expressed his support and enthusiasm for this new initiative and recounted his many experiences in South Africa including the struggles, challenges and difficulties under the appalling apartheid regime as well as under the new democratic dispensation in South Africa and the reintroduction of the WBC into the country.

The primary function of the WBC South Africa office will be to grow the sport of boxing in South Africa for the benefit of both boxers and the community and enhance the “aspirational” spirit of boxing in all its attributes. This aspirational spirit has created icons and heroes from the poorest and most dire circumstances into world champions and revered leaders and humanitarians that are internationally recognized and respected throughout the world.

Amongst the guests were a number of former and current world champions boxers including South Africa’s Dingaan “the rose of Soweto” Thobela who defeated the highly rated Glenn Catley to win the WBC Middleweight title on a knockout in the final round. Thobela recounted that at the time nobody gave him any chance of success and that he was told that “he could not even crack an egg” nevertheless he won a cracking fight.

Mr. Alan Norman representing the WBC South Africa office expressed his sincere thanks to the President of the WBC as well as their team of executives for their unwaning support and assistance, and welcomed the opportunity to commence its various programs in cooperation with the wider WBC family throughout the world.