WBA Centennial Awards Dinner
By Boxing Bob Newman
Quite often at boxing governing body conventions, the annual awards banquet closes the show. Many times, if there is a boxing card during a convention, it comes later during the convention as well. Perhaps when an organization has been around for a century, they’ve earned the right to break the mold and do things just a tad differently. Opening the WBA Centennial convention was a blockbuster 14-fight marathon show and today, the annual awards dinner was held. Not only fighters, but administrators, media, trainers, managers, matchmakers and more were honored for their efforts both in and out of the ring.
Media
Lucho Espada
Tom Hogan
Damon Gonzalez
ESPN Knockout crew
Osvaldo Principi
Lupe Contreras
Managers, Matchmakers, Promoters
Joe DeGuardia
Karim Acar
Sam Katkofsky
Nobu Ikushima
Roberto Diaz
Ricardo Rizzo
Sampson Lewkowicz
Phillip Fondu
Scott Hirsch
Chris Meyer
Ricardo Maldonado
Tuto Zabala
Vadim Kornilov
Artists
Patrick Killian
Felipe Pelaez
Special Recognition
Elena Mendoza (President Mendoza’s mother, who was celebrating her birthday today)
Dennis Martínez (Montreal Expos pitcher who pitched only the 13th perfect game in MLB history in July 28, 1991)
Trainers
Jimmy Montoya
Jacob Nasser
Female boxers
Jacqueline Calvo
Alycia Baumgardner
Clara Lescarat
Kina Malpartida
Jelena Mrdjenovich
Franchon Crews
Marlen Esparza
Cecilia Comunales
Hyun Mi Choi
Jackie Nava
Jake Paul (for his support)
WBA leadership
Mariana Borisova
Bob Mack
Alan Kim
Aurelio Fiengo
Boxers
Cory Spinks
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Michael Zerafa
William Zepeda
Celestino Caballero
Mariano Carrera
Erick Rosa
Alberto Puello
Sergio Martinez
Jesse Vargas
Nonito Donaire
Ryota Murata
Marcos Maidana
Winky Wright
Arsen Goulamirian
David Morrell
Paulie Malignaggi
Acelino Freitas
Juan Diaz
Miguel Cotto
Fernando Vargas
Bernard Hopkins
Evander Holyfield
Dmitrii Bivol – Fighter of the Year
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