The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the most-prestigious[citation needed] continental title in Europe, the EBU European Championship, in addition to their EBU EU Championship for competitors from within the European Union and the EBU EE Championship for those outside the European Union. It is a federation affiliated with the World Boxing Council (WBC).
During most of the 20th century and, specially, during that era's first decades, the EBU recognized many world title fights as the IBU. It competed against the American-based National Boxing Association (NBA), which staged the more widely recognized world title fights.
History
International Boxing Union (1911–1942)
The International Boxing Union (IBU) was created June 1911 in Paris, France. It was the first attempt to create a unified international governing body for professional boxing. Signators of the Protocol for the IBU were the President of Fédération Française de Boxe et de Lutte for France, the President of Fédération Belge de Boxe for Belgium, and the President of Société Française de Propagation de la Boxe Anglaise who acted on behalf of some American boxing authorities. Switzerland joined the IBU in November 1913. Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Argentine, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom also joined. By 1922, the UK had withdrawn support, and the US was never fully committed.[1]
The IBU suspended operations with the outbreak of World War I, but resumed action on February 5, 1920.
Headquartered in Paris, the IBU was in the hands of the Nazis and Italian Fascists during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. On 5 June 1942, the Associazione Pugilistica Professionistica Europea (APPE) was formally established, replacing the IBU. Vittorio Mussolini, eldest son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was declared the APPE's first President. The first official meeting of the APPE's steering committee was held June 7, who recognized the following European champions: Enrico Urbinati (fly), Gino Bondavalli (bantam and feather), Ascenzo Botta (light), vacant - it was announced to Marcel Cerdan that he had lost his title (welter), Jupp Besselmann (middle), Luigi Musina (light-heavy), and Max Schmeling (heavy).
The lira was adopted as the official currency for bout and congress fees. The APPE also changed the division weights by adopting the kilogram: 51 kilos (fly), 54 (bantam), 58 (feather), 62 (light), 67 (junior middle—abolishing the term "welter"), 73 (middle), 80 (light-heavy), and 80-plus (heavy). Ultimately, all European bouts held under the APPE's aegis were matched at these weights until December 1944.
It was planned that after the Axis won World War II, the APPE would be transformed into the APPI (Associazione Pugilistica Professionistica Internazionale) and be headquartered in Rome. But by December 1, 1944, the IBU/APPE was extinct.
European Boxing Union (1946–present)
The British Boxing Board of Control and the newly formed French FFB tried to constitute a new European body—the European Boxing Association (EBA)--but other countries protested because the two veteran countries would have reintroduced the principle that the European Champion would be decided by a bout between British and French champions. Instead, in 1946, the European Boxing Union (EBU) was established.
Currently, winning an EBU title is considered important, but not necessary, by many European boxers in order to go on and fight for a world title of the four most widely recognized world championship boxing organizations, the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO. Following the formation of the European Economic Union, the EBU issued subtitles for the Union countries (EBU-EU title) and "External" countries (EBU-EE title), below their main EBU title which would cover all 50 countries on the continent and 3/4 billion residents.
In light of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EBU announced that it would not certify any championship contests involving boxers from Russia and Belarus.[2]
Rules
The EBU follows certain rules, but most rules in EBU bouts obey the rules set by the independent boxing commission of the country where an EBU fight will be held at. Some of the EBU rules are that a fighter must not be younger than 20 years of age when fighting for an EBU championship, and that hotel accommodation for boxers, referees and European Boxing Union officials visiting a country for an EBU fight must be paid by the fight's promoter. The EBU does, however, pay for the air or train tickets of referees and officials that travel away from home for an EBU fight. Other rules are also imposed on EBU recognized events, but not many of the EBU rules interfere with the fighting rules to be followed during the fight itself.
The EBU recognizes world titles sanctioned by the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and IBO. A boxer holding a world title is rendered ineligible for EBU, including EU and EE, rankings.[3][4]
A male boxer must have competed in at least eight bouts to be eligible for rankings. For female boxers, it is four bouts. At least five of a boxer's last 10 bouts must have taken place in Europe and sanctioned by an EBU affiliate association, two of which in the last 24 months, to be eligible for rankings.[3]
A boxer challenging for a European title from another sanctioning body is disqualified from rankings for nine months. A boxer holding such a title will only be eligible for rankings after 12 months from the time of having relinquished it.[3]
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF). The WBO's headquarters are located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts. The others are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Marcel Thil was a French boxer and middleweight world champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec rates Thil as the second-best European boxer ever across all weight divisions, after Joe Calzaghe.
In boxing, the undisputed champion of a weight class is the boxer who simultaneously holds world titles from all major organizations recognized by each other and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. There are currently four major sanctioning bodies: WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF. There were many undisputed champions before the number of major sanctioning bodies recognizing each other increased to four in 2007, but there have been only 21 boxers to hold all four titles simultaneously.
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory authority to guarantee the fighters' safety. Most high-profile bouts obtain the endorsement of a sanctioning body, which awards championship belts, establishes rules, and assigns its own judges and referees.
The North American Boxing Federation (NABF) is a not-for-profit regional sanctioning body that awards regional boxing titles. It is a boxing federation within the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Vyacheslav Senchenko is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2015, and held the WBA welterweight (Regular) title from 2009 to 2012.
[An image needs to be inserted for flyweight]
Ruediger May is a prolific German cruiserweight boxer known for his stinging jab. He challenged once for the WBO world cruiserweight title in 2004.
Ermano Fegatilli is a Netherlands-based Italian boxer.
↑ See ineligible section on division rankings: "EBU Ratings". boxebu.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-17. "EU Ratings". boxebu.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-17. "EE Ratings". boxebu.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
