Boxing champs to attend Jeju event
Published: 27 Oct. 2009, 21:44
Some of the greatest boxers of all time will come to Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju to participate in the World Boxing Council 47th annual convention. More than 1,000 participants, including Jose Sulaiman, president of WBC, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, other executives, boxers and their families from 70 countries are slated to attend.
The seven-day convention, which is hosted by WBC and co-managed by the Korea Boxing Commission and Jeju provincial government, is scheduled to begin on Nov. 1 at Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel in the city of Jeju.
Roberto Duran, a retired professional boxer from Panama nicknamed “Hands of Stone” during his career, was the first celebrity to announce participation in the event. After taking a WBC welterweight world title in 1980, Duran held two additional world titles at two different weights - junior middleweight and middleweight.
Leonard, a retired American boxer who won WBC light heavyweight, super middleweight and middleweight titles in the 1980s and 1990s, will also make an appearance. Hearns and Hagler - former World Boxing Association light heavyweight and WBC middleweight champions, respectively - will follow suit.
Not only foreign champs but also retired Korean boxing world champions, including Hong Soo-hwan and Yuh Myung-woo, will be at Jeju.
An opening ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. next Monday.
On the last day of the convention, eight professional boxing titles within the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation will be displayed at Jeju’s Halla Gymnasium. Some 10 former WBC world title champions plan to sign autographs for fans who visit the gymnasium.
“Through the upcoming annual convention, I’m sure that the popularity of boxing in the world will recover from a recent downward trend,” said Sulaiman, who visited Jeju yesterday in order to look over the convention site. The WBC was initially established in February 1963 as an advisory organ under WBA and became an independent international boxing organization three years later.
By Yang Seong-cheol, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
The seven-day convention, which is hosted by WBC and co-managed by the Korea Boxing Commission and Jeju provincial government, is scheduled to begin on Nov. 1 at Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel in the city of Jeju.
Roberto Duran, a retired professional boxer from Panama nicknamed “Hands of Stone” during his career, was the first celebrity to announce participation in the event. After taking a WBC welterweight world title in 1980, Duran held two additional world titles at two different weights - junior middleweight and middleweight.
Leonard, a retired American boxer who won WBC light heavyweight, super middleweight and middleweight titles in the 1980s and 1990s, will also make an appearance. Hearns and Hagler - former World Boxing Association light heavyweight and WBC middleweight champions, respectively - will follow suit.
Not only foreign champs but also retired Korean boxing world champions, including Hong Soo-hwan and Yuh Myung-woo, will be at Jeju.
An opening ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. next Monday.
On the last day of the convention, eight professional boxing titles within the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation will be displayed at Jeju’s Halla Gymnasium. Some 10 former WBC world title champions plan to sign autographs for fans who visit the gymnasium.
“Through the upcoming annual convention, I’m sure that the popularity of boxing in the world will recover from a recent downward trend,” said Sulaiman, who visited Jeju yesterday in order to look over the convention site. The WBC was initially established in February 1963 as an advisory organ under WBA and became an independent international boxing organization three years later.
By Yang Seong-cheol, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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