The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
THE sanctioning body for Charles Manyuchi’s new title, Global Boxing Union, have spoken about the international significance of their belts in the wake of criticism of their worth on the global boxing arena.
Manyuchi ( pictured) won the GBU intercontinental middleweight title with a fifth round TKO win over Pablo Ezequiel Acosta of Argentina in a fight dubbed “Restoration” at the Harare International Conference Centre on May 25.
The Zimbabwean star pugilist went into that fight seeking to bounce back from that morale sapping and embarrassing loss to Qudratillo Abduqaxorov in March 2017, which cost Manyuchi the prestigious World Boxing Council Silver welterweight title.
Manyuchi bounced back to clinch his first international belt in two years with a victory over Acosta and earned some points on the world boxing rankings but some critics questioned the relevance of the GBU, which according to Boxrec, is one of those classified as “alphabet soup bodies.”
The majority of titles under this German based Global Boxing Union, including the middleweight championship, which is a rung above Manyuchi’s belt, are vacant, raising dust over the viability of this sanctioning body. The World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) are deemed as the legitimate sanctioning bodies.
However, the Global Boxing Union defended their titles in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail recently.
Rainer Gottwald, who spoke on behalf of GBU, following the death of president Jurgen Lutz who was involved in a fatal car accident recently, insisted the German based body was one of the fastest rising bodies in the world of boxing.
“Let me put this way, the GBU titles for males are actually in the top six sanctioning bodies in world professional boxing.
“Last year for example, Layla McCarter who is one of the best pound for pound fighters in female boxing was promoted by Mayweather Promotions and defended her GBU and WIBF (world welterweight) titles in a big show in USA,” Gottwald told The Sunday Mail.
The 40-year-old MacCarter is the third best female welterweight boxer in the world and has a 43-13-5 record.
“Of course, for the males we can say that we have the Big Four sanctioning bodies, the WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC but the GBU is coming up strongly.
“The GBU was set up in the early 1990s, it started with male and female title fights and this time the private company Boxrec wasn’t existing.
“GBU gives Africa and its athletes the chance to be a real champion and getting very close to the big shows. Not to just get called up to travel and lose somewhere else in the world,” Gottwald said.
He added: “The costs for a GBU title is much less than the costs of the other five bodies including the IBO, so it gives Africa the chance to make and promote shows.
“In my opinion, the GBU actually gives boxing independence for Africa, as the African fighter has the right to win!”
Gottwald also explained why a number of GBU titles were vacant.
“Just the light titles are vacant but that’s a big chance too for Africa to make the world title fight in a lighter weight.
“The GBU is as well close to signing a deal with Chinese and other Asian promoters to get the light weight classes done,” he said.
