Combat or fighting sports have been around everyone’s lives since ancient times. People get amusement by watching the aggressiveness.
But when they are organized to official terms, some rules and regulations should be followed by competitors. WBA and WBC organize one of the combat sports known as Boxing.
Key Takeaways
- The World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) are both governing bodies that oversee professional boxing and sanction championship fights.
- The WBA was established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA) and is the oldest boxing organization, while the WBC was founded in 1963.
- Both organizations have different ranking systems, titles, and regulations, but they occasionally collaborate to create unified champions in boxing.
WBA vs WBC
The difference between WBA and WBC is that WBA has around 315,000 teams as its members across the world, while WBC has 161 countries and nine regional boxing organizations as its members. Both WBA and WBC are known to organize boxing championships worldwide, and both organizations originate from the South American continent.
WBA is known to be the short form of the World Boxing Association. WBA was also known as NBA (National Boxing Association) formerly. WBA is a very famous organization to sanction professional boxing.
It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama. In some exceptional situations, WBA is Also referred to as Super Champion.
WBC is the short form for the World Boxing Council. WBC was founded on 14 February 1963. The headquarter of WBC is located in Mexico City, Mexico. It was established for the purpose of sanctioning Boxing bouts.
It is one of the four organizations to arrange boxing championships. WBC has three diamond championship rosters.
Comparison Table
| Parameters Of Comparison | WBA | WBC |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | World Boxing Association known as WBA was founded in 1921 as NBA and on 14 February 1963 as WBA. | World Boxing Council known as WBC was founded on 14 February 1963. |
| Founder | No person is recognized as the founder of WBA though a person named Bob Arum claimed to pay WBA officials. | WBC was formed with the support of different countries. The president of that time Adolfo Lòpez Mateos invited these countries. |
| Headquarter | The headquarter of WBA is located in the city of Panama, Panama. | The headquarter of WBC is located in the city of Mexico, Mexico. |
| History | WBA was established as NBA for the first time then it changed its name to the current known name WBA. | WBC is a part of four major boxing organizations, it wasn’t changed to anything else. |
| Logo | The logo of WBA portrays a big Blue circle with the picture of two boxers ready to fight. | The logo of WBC presents twisted strips with the flags of member countries and a picture of a boxer. |
What is WBA?
WBA is an organization that has replaced the National Boxing Association. It organizes professional boxing bouts along with IBF, WBO, and WBC. WBA is one the oldest organizations to hold boxing matches.
The world championship title of WBA is awarded to the boxers at a professional level.
For the first time, the WBA was established as the NBA in the United States in the year of 1921 and ratified by 13 representatives of different states. But in 1962, it changed its jurisdiction and recognition due to the rising popularity of Boxing worldwide.
In 1972, Latin Americans held votes, and by getting the majority, WBA was shifted to Panama. WBA started to accept boxers from other nations as well.
The type of this organization is a nonprofit institution. The first boxing bout was organized in New Jersey, which was recognized as Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier and categorized as a heavyweight championship.
WBA awards boxers its title according to the weight category. The female boxers also compete in the boxing bouts of WBA.
It provides 17 weight classifications for male and female boxers.
WBA has an additional weight category for female boxers known as atom weight division. There have been countless controversies regarding WBA, where it was accused of partiality and corruption.
What is WBC?
There are four major organizations to sanction boxing matches for the competitors: WBO, IBF, WBA, and WBC. WBC has a remarkable place among these other four.
WBC organization boxing championship worldwide and accepts boxers from different countries.
There was 11 country involved in the formation of WBC that are United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, France, Peru, Mexico, the Philippines, Chile, and Panama.
All the representative countries assembled in Mexico City in 1936, which President Adolfo Lòpez Mateos invited. They all came to the same conclusion of unifying all commissions of the Boxing field to control unnecessary expansion.
So far now, almost 161 countries have become a member of WBC. WBC provides the green championship belt for the winners that represent the flags of all 161 member countries.
Similar belts with little variation in their design are awarded to the champions from all categories of classified weight.
Nine regional governing bodies are affiliated with the WBC organization, some of them are the African Boxing Council, North American Boxing Federation, Pacific Boxing Federation, etc.
The WBC reduced 15 rounds of a boxing match to 12 rounds following the shocking event in which a South Korean boxer named Kim Duk Koo died.
Main Differences Between WBA and WBC
- WBA consists of teams of boxers from different nations. On the other hand, WBC is an organization that has nations as its members.
- WBA was an independent organization that then became part of 4 major boxing organizations, while WBC has always been part of these 4 organizations.
- NBA was the initial form of WBA before renaming. On the other hand, WBC had no other form than its original one.
- The logo of WBA does not include any flag because it represents teams, while flags of different countries are shown in WBC’s logo.
- The Boxing organization WBA is headquartered in Panama. On the other hand, WBC is headquartered in Mexico.
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
This article is great! Unbiased and genuinely informative.
I think it would be great if the article also analyzed some of their most controversial decisions, not just praise their championships. These organizations are worth criticism as well.
I agree with you, it would be interesting to dig into that topic as well.
Unfortunately, bad publicity also gives these organizations some visibility. It might be why they occasionally create controversies.
This post presents a very ironclad and classic tone. It’s a good and accurate source for those who want a summary of these two organizations.
I think it’s unfortunate that it was only mentioned in a single sentence, all the controversies surrounding WBA and WBC. It is clear that this was an article written to praise these organizations.
I think the part of the article about the differences in the logos of the two organizations was unnecessary. It does not add any relevant fact about them.
Yes, I agree, this post is about politics, not about design.
This is a very detailed and informative analysis of these two boxing organizations. People often don’t know the difference between WBA and WBC, and this post clarifies all doubts in a very concise way.