Editing World Boxing Association (section)

==Controversies==
As has been the case with all major boxing sanctioning organizations, the WBA has been plagued with charges of corrupt practices.  In a 1981 ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' article, a boxing judge claimed he was influenced by WBA President Gilberto Mendoza to judge certain fighters competing for their titles more favorably. The same article also discussed a variety of bribes paid to WBA officials to obtain championship bout opportunities, or higher placement within the organization's rankings.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Heller
  | first = Peter
  | title = Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story
  | publisher = New American Library
  | year = 1988
  | location = New York
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/141 141–142]
  | isbn = 0-688-10123-2
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/141
  }}</ref> In a 1982 interview, boxing promoter [[Bob Arum]] claimed that he had to pay off WBA officials to obtain rankings for his fighters.<ref name="Mullan 122">{{cite book
 | last = Mullan
 | title = The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing
 | page = 122}}</ref> Further support for allegations of this nature came in the 1980s and 1990s as two other organizations would have similar corruption exposed, including the conviction and imprisonment of IBF President Bob Lee and [[Graciano Rocchigiani]]'s successful civil prosecution of the WBC that resulted in the organization briefly filing for bankruptcy before reaching a settlement that saved it from collapse.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

===Fragmented championships===
Until the autumn of 2021, the WBA recognized up to four world champions in any given [[Weight class (boxing)|weight division]], to the point of rendering it technically impossible under certain conditions for a WBA world champion to even hold sole recognition from the organization as its champion in a division.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The most prominent designation is that of the WBA Super champion, which was created in 2000 following a suggestion by [[Lennox Lewis]] after he was forced to relinquish his WBA heavyweight title prior to his defense against [[Michael Grant (boxer)|Michael Grant]]. This distinction was initially reserved for WBA champions who are simultaneously recognized by the WBC, IBF or WBO. A WBA Super champion is afforded special consideration by the organization with respect to meeting [[mandatory challenger|mandatory defense]] obligations to maintain championship recognition, but it also has opened the door for the organization to recognize a separate world champion, commonly referred to as the Regular champion; creating confusion among fans as to who holds the de facto championship title. Some world champions have been upgraded to WBA Super champion status without winning another organization's title, among them [[Floyd Mayweather Jr.]], [[Chris John (boxer)|Chris John]], [[Anselmo Moreno]] and [[Manny Pacquiao]]; or upon defending their WBA title five or more times.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/chocolatito-is-the-latest-wba-super-champion-151184
 |title        = "Chocolatito" is the latest WBA super champion
 |date         = November 30, 2012
 |access-date   = November 30, 2012
 |author       = Gabriel F. Cordero
 |publisher    = Fightnews.com
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121202012326/http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/chocolatito-is-the-latest-wba-super-champion-151184
 |archive-date = December 2, 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>  Upon awarding a WBA Super championship, the regular world champion status is deemed vacant, whereupon it is filled by the organization as a separate championship. On March 5, 2021, [[Claressa Shields]] became the inaugural WBA Super women's champion at light middleweight.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The WBA further complicated this from time to time by recognizing an [[Interim championship|interim champion]], ostensibly in cases where a designated world champion is, for some reason, prohibited from making a timely defense of their title. Under such conditions, the interim title holder is to be the next person to compete for one of the full championship titles once the champion is in a position to compete. In practice, however, this actually occurred rarely if ever and in 2019 the organization began awarding the WBA Gold title, for which no provision exists even within the organization's own governing documents. In December 2019 for example, they simultaneously recognized a WBA Super champion ([[Anthony Joshua]]), WBA champion ([[Manuel Charr]]), WBA interim champion ([[Trevor Bryan]]) and WBA Gold champion ([[Robert Helenius]]) in the heavyweight division.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

There have even been instances where different WBA World Champions have defended versions of the same title, in the same weight class, on the same date, and even within the same event.  On September 14, 2024 for example, [[Caleb Plant]] defeated [[Trevor McCumby]] to earn recognition as the WBA's Interim World Super Middleweight championship in an event that was headlined by [[Canelo Alvarez]], who defended his WBA Super World Super Middleweight championship against [[Edgar Berlanga]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Following the controversial decision in the Gabriel Maestre vs. Mykal Fox fight on August 7, 2021, amid immense public pressure, the WBA finally began eliminating all interim titles in the attempt to return to a single champion per weight division.  They reverted to issuing interim championships in 2024.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

===Boxer rankings===
The organization has further garnered negative attention with respect to its ranking of boxers, in spite of having adopted a complex, documented rating formula in the 2000s. In 2015 for example, [[Ali Raymi]] had been rated number six when, in his service as a [[colonel]] in the [[Yemeni Armed Forces|Yemeni armed forces]], he was killed. His death did not significantly hinder his rating position in the WBA however, as in a subsequent ranking he had only dropped to number eleven.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianboxing.info/asian-news/wba-ranking-update-leaves-questions-and-criticism |title=WBA ranking update leaves questions and criticism |work=Asian Boxing}}</ref>