World Boxing Council Chooses LockerBlogger As Official Social Network
The WBC, the world’s largest sports sanctioning body, has teamed up with LockerBlogger, a sports centric social network.
NEW YORK, NY, March 8th, 2010 – The World Boxing Council has officially joined LockerBlogger, a new, sports-centric social network, as it’s official social networking platform. WBC boxers, trainers and officials will soon start using the social platform as a way to connect with each other and their fans.
The WBC boasts membership in 164 countries and 9 federations and is one of the most prestigious sports sanctioning body in the world. The WBC Green Belt is possibly the most recognizable symbol in sports. It has been won by boxing greats Muhammad Ali, Julio Chavez, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
“The Internet is offering to all of us a way of immediate and constant communication for the good of our involvement in the sport,” Jose Sulaiman, President of WBC, said on the official WBC website.
“Boxers, trainers, officials and others involved in the sport of boxing have been looking for a way to truly connect with their fans,” says Jill Diamond, Chair for the WBC & NABF Female Championship Committee. “LockerBlogger will provide them robust tools to allow everyone affiliated with the WBC to spread their messages in an unfiltered voice”
Sulaiman is among some of the members who have already signed up Lockers, where they are able to post blogs, videos, photos and updates for their friends, fans and followers to see. “The WBC Family proudly embraces our friends at LockerBlogger,” Sulaiman said. “LockerBlogger– we’re in your corner!”
About LockerBlogger
Recently rated the top sports social network by Dozen Sports, LockerBlogger was built by sports lovers, for sports lovers. Creating connections is the name of our game. Our goal is to become the ultimate hub for the global sports community to celebrate pro and amateur achievement, access expert coaching education and skills development, and plug in to active conversations about the pastimes they love.
We close the gap between the field and the stands, and give fans authentic, unfiltered access to their favorite players. We connect the top coaches in every sport with players who want to take their skills to the next level, and fans looking for savvy insight from the top minds in the game. We give amateur athletes the opportunity to build their communities as their star begins to rise. And finally, we bring fans the stories, education and community they crave — all in one place, twenty-four hours a day.
# # #
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jeremy Kirschner Jill Diamond
(631) 827-3692 (212) 627-2017
Jeremy@lockerblogger.com jdiamond@neverhitalady.com
Trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Brush With Death
Once again — As the WBC has cried out for years for good medical care. computerized and consistent standards for all fighters — here is another example why. Given her position in the community, It took a lot of courage for this fighter, to allow her story to be told:
Chicago boxer’s brush with death raises safety questions
February 25, 2010 8:39 PM
Boxer Rita Figueroa lasted all six rounds of her last fight before the bell rang and she headed to the locker room.
But the 40-year-old fighter was not well. A painful headache developed, then nausea and vomiting. She couldn’t sign for her check to get paid. Paramedics put her on a stretcher and prepared to put her in an ambulance.
TO read more:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/chicago-boxers-brush-with-death-raises-safety-questions.html
WBC YOUTH WORLD BELT 4 WOMEN
President Don Jose Sulaiman and the WBC is now offering the Youth World Title for women less than 24 years of age. President Sulaiman feels it will be a good alternative for young women with strong amateur backgrounds, who want to advance in the ratings but don’t yet qualify for the World or International Titles.
Like the men’s Youth World Title, this will be under the auspices of its Chariman, Rex Walker and the Youth Championship Committee.
For details and availability, please contact:
Rex Walker, Chairman
info@sombrero.com
303 4420258 – OFFICE
303 5171280 – CELL
Playboy FIght Nights
Christian Printup is back! This is great news. When he was at the Tachi he always treated everyone right! Here’s his new venue. For all you Californians….
Tickets on sale Monday February 1st for Playboy Fight Night I Friday night March 5th at all tickets.com outlets, the Visalia CA Convention Center box office, and Visalia’s MMA Gear on Mooney Blvd. Join us on March 5th, be a part of history! Playboy Fight Night II March 27th at Feather Falls Casino on sale now! San Diego you’re next. Details forthcoming
WOmen at Ringside
I enjoyed Saturday’s card at the Madison Square Garden with Jill Emery & Suszannah Warner, two female champions, whom, as pros, may never see MSG from inside the ring, despite their talents and win records. Bittersweet. Let’s hope the Olympics in 2012 changes this for the women. It’s been a struggle, and one made worse by the economy. With people loosing their homes, it’s difficult to talk promoters into doing woman’s fights. Not anyone’s priority — except the women who are training 24/7 and hoping for validation.
Derric ‘el leon’ Rossi – USNBC Champ
On January 27th, 2010 current USNBC Heavyweight Champion and world ranked #11 heavyweight boxer Derric “El Leon” Rossi (22-2, 12 KOs) will fight Alexis Mejias (10-2, 4 KOs). This bout is just one of many scheduled by Winky Promotions in association with final forum for the Knockout Fight Club event taking place at the M2 Ultralounge in Manhattan.
Gurela Wins!
Photos : Mary Ann Owen
Olivia ” The Predator” Gerula won a 10 round majority decision against WBC Interim Champion Myriam Chomaz to unfy the WBC super feather weight title
Gerula & Chomaz went went toe to toe almost every round with Gerula winning most of the exchanges. Chomaz had swelling under the right eye and a big bruise on the left cheek. Gerula did not have any noticable abrasions.
Most ringside observers that the figt was not as close as the scores indicated, 95-95 , 96-94, 97-93 
Holm/Hernandez, 12/04/09
“The World Boxing Council was shocked to learn that the mandatory elimination bout in New Mexico on December 4 between Holly Holm (USA) and Melissa Hernandez (PR), did not happen due to the decision by Mellisa Hernandez not to participate in the main event at the last minute. This is a total lack of respect to her opponent, the promoter of the event Lenny Fresquez, the rules and regulations of the WBC and the local commission, and of course the fans of boxing who paid to watch this event . The WBC accepted no sanctioning fee for this event.
Given her outstanding record, the situation, and the fact she was a former WBC Champion, the WBC is appointing Holly Holm as the mandatory contender for the WBC Welterweight Championship of the World, due to this unfortunate turn of events. Further the WBC will suspend Hernandez from the ratings of the WBC, and from challenging for any WBC related championship, pending a full and timely investigation of all the facts and direct statements from miss Hernandez . The WBC, its President Jose Sulaiman, and the WBC Female Championships Committee is fully committed to fairness in boxing, and is saddened by this terrible situation, and will work very hard to resolve this issue.”
Ed Pearson
Chairman
WBC Female Championships Committee
Francisco Rodriguez: RIP
The slide show of Francisco “Paco” Rodriguez’s triumphs showed the glory of boxing. That the photos were on display next to his casket was a jarring reminder of the sport’s dangers.
In addition to grieving relatives, a steady stream of current and former boxers arrived at a Forest Park funeral home Monday to honor Rodriguez, a popular Chicago boxer known as “Kid Aztec,” who died last week at age 25 from injuries suffered in a bout in Philadelphia.
In the process of mourning, the boxers were forced to confront their own mortality and the sometimes brutal nature of a sport they love.
Louis Mateo, who fought against Rodriguez’s father and now works as a trainer, said every fighter realizes the risks of entering the ring. Even with Rodriguez’s death, Mateo said he would not hesitate to let his 14-year-old son, Louis Jr., continue in the sport.
“For me to see my son in the streets, with gangbangers, with drugs, I prefer to see him doing something right,” Mateo said. “If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen. I know that you could go home after a fight, lay down and — boom — you’re dead.”
Officials with the state’s boxing commission said they could not recall the last fatality in the state — Tribune accounts point to a fight in the 1940s — and only a handful of boxers die nationwide each year. But nearly every mourner from the local boxing scene seemed to know someone who had been badly injured. Just weeks earlier, local boxer Rita Figueroa had to undergo emergency brain surgery after a fight at the UIC Pavilion.
Fres Oquendo, a local heavyweight who once fought Evander Holyfield, joined other boxers in expressing respect for Rodriguez’s reputation as a “warrior.”
But he recognized that a lesser fighter would have likely succumbed before the final fatal punches.
“Francisco might have had too much heart for his own good,” said Oquendo, who trained with the Rodriguez family at a Hamlin Park boxing club.
The visitation drew not only boxers but referees, trainers, promoters and other figures from Chicago’s boxing scene.
Many knew Rodriguez’s father and trainer, Evaristo Sr., and brother Evaristo Jr., himself a national Golden Gloves champion
“Boxing is a one-man sport. It isn’t a team sport. So each and every fighter supports the other fighters from our community. When a tragedy like this happens, we take it to heart,” Oquendo said.
Many of the Mexican-American Rodriguez’s relatives wore T-shirts that showed an indigenous Mexican warrior representing “Kid Aztec.” Next to the casket was a red flower arrangement shaped like a boxing glove.
Rodriguez’s funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Chicago.
Jorge Pacheco, a former boxer and now a state boxing inspector, said he was sensitive to outside criticism that Rodriguez’s death illustrated the inherent savagery of the sport. The Chicago-based American Medical Association, for example, wants boxing banned.
“We’re not going to stop doing something that we love, but we can try to make it safer, make it better,” said Pacheco, who has known Rodriguez since he was a child.
Still, even defenders of the sport like Pacheco couldn’t help but be shaken up by Rodriguez’s death.
Pacheco’s own 4-year-old son is fascinated with the sport and occasionally joins him at the gym. Just a few weeks ago, Pacheco assumed he’d be the third generation in his family to pursue the sport.
“Now, I don’t know. It might end with me,” Pacheco said. “It takes a tragedy like this, sometimes, to open your eyes.”
oavila@tribune.com