The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded in the United States in 1921 by 13 state representatives as the NBA, in 1962 it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity worldwide and began to gain other nations as members.
Jorge Armando Arce Armenta, best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in four weight divisions. In a storied career, Arce held the WBO light flyweight title from 1998 to 1999; the WBC and lineal light flyweight titles from 2002 to 2004; the WBO super flyweight title in 2010; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2011; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012. Additionally he held the WBC interim flyweight title from 2005 to 2006, the WBA interim super flyweight title from 2008 to 2009, and challenged once for the WBC featherweight title in his final fight in 2014.
Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and Ring magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and 2017, and the WBA (Regular) bantamweight title from 2020 to 2021. He has also challenged once for the WBO junior lightweight title in 2017.
Joel Casamayor Johnson is a Cuban American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2011. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA super featherweight title from 2000 to 2002; and the WBC, Ring magazine and lineal lightweight titles between 2006 and 2008. As an amateur, Casamayor won a gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 1992 Olympics, after which he defected to the United States on the eve of the 1996 Olympics.
Fernando Montiel Martínez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a multiple-time former world champion in three weight classes, having held the WBO flyweight title from 2001 to 2002, the WBO junior bantamweight title twice between 2002 and 2008, and the unified WBC and WBO bantamweight titles from 2010 to 2011.
Roberto Garcia Cortez is a Mexican-American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2001, and held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1998 to 1999. He has since worked as a boxing trainer, and was voted Trainer of the Year by The Ring magazine in 2011, and by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2012. He is the older brother of professional boxer Mikey Garcia, who was a world champion in four weight classes.
Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Jeffrey Mathebula is a South African professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. He held the IBF junior featherweight title in 2012.
John Riel Reponte Casimero is a Filipino professional boxer and YouTuber. He has held world championships in three weight classes; including the IBF junior-flyweight title from 2012 to 2013; the IBF flyweight title in 2016; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2019 to 2022. Quadro Alas is Tagalog for four of a kind when translated, his moniker means Four Aces.
Boxing in the 2010s includes notable events about boxing which occurred between 2010 and 2019. The decade saw high intensity action in the welterweight division. The match between veterans Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao broke PPV records. The broadcast of the fight in the Philippines was watched by nearly half the country's households. Mayweather retired at a record 50-0-0 while Pacquiao became the first eight division champion. The middleweight division saw immense action in the later years of the decade. After a draw in 2017, Canelo Alvarez ended Gennady Golovkin's long reign in 2018. The heavyweight division was dominated by Klitschko brothers before Wladimir's loss to Tyson Fury in 2015. Other talents that emerged were Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk.
Carl Frampton is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2021. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) super bantamweight title in 2016, and the IBF super bantamweight title from 2014 to 2016, and the WBA (Super) featherweight title from 2016 to 2017.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito, billed as "The Eighth Wonder of the World", was a super welterweight fight for the vacant WBC super welterweight championship. The bout was held on November 13, 2010, at AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, United States. The match was put together after the second negotiation for the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. had failed. Pacquiao defeated Margarito by unanimous decision.
Fernando Montiel vs. Nonito Donaire, billed as Think Fast!, was a bantamweight world title fight, which pitted 2 fighters both on The Ring's Top 10 pound-for-pound list.
Nonito Donaire vs. Omar Narváez was a boxing bantamweight championship fight for the WBC and WBO world titles. Donaire made his first and only title defense against junior bantamweight titleholder Omar Narvaez. Shortly after the most significant win of his career, a highlight reel knockout of Mexico's Fernando Montiel, Donaire left Top Rank and signed with rival Golden Boy Promotions. The deal was put on hold when an arbitrator upheld Top Rank's contract and enjoined Golden Boy from promoting Donaire. Eventually, Donaire worked out his differences with Top Rank, which signed him to a contract extension in mid-July.
Julio César Chávez Jr. vs. Marco Antonio Rubio, billed as Welcome to the Future, was a boxing middleweight bout for the WBC world title. The bout was held on February 4, 2012, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, United States. where 14,000 fans were attending.
Simpiwe Vetyeka is a South African professional boxer. He is a former WBA (Undisputed) and IBO featherweight champion, as well as a former IBO super bantamweight champion.
Ryan Burnett is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2019. He was a unified bantamweight world champion, having held the WBA (Unified) and IBF titles between 2017 and 2018. At regional level he held the British bantamweight title from 2015 to 2017. As an amateur, he represented Ireland at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and won a gold medal in the light-flyweight division.
Reymart Grande Gaballo is a Filipino professional boxer. He held the WBC interim bantamweight title from 2020 to 2021 and previously held the WBA interim bantamweight title in 2018. He also challenged for the WBC bantamweight title in 2021.
Naoya Inoue vs. Paul Butler, billed as Undisputed, was a bantamweight unification professional boxing match contested between WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, and The Ring champion, Naoya Inoue, and WBO champion, Paul Butler. Inoue knocked out Butler and became the undisputed bantamweight champion and the first since Enrique Pinder beat Rafael Herrera in 1972. The bout took place on 13 December 2022, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
