Francisco Gilberto Mendoza ( Spanish: Francisco Gilberto Mendoza ; March 30, 1943 , Barquisimeto - March 11, 2016 , Caracas ) - Venezuelan sports functionary in boxing , between 1982-2015 he served as president of the World Boxing Association , the oldest and largest organization in this form sports.
 Gilberto Mendoza | |
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| general information | |
| Citizenship |  Venezuela |
| Date of Birth | March 30, 1943 |
| Place of Birth | Barquisimeto , Venezuela |
| Date of death | March 11, 2016 (72 years old) |
| Place of death | Caracas , Venezuela |
Biography
Gilberto Mendoza was born March 30, 1943 in the city of Barquisimeto , Lara . He grew up in difficult conditions, in childhood played baseball and football , but in the end he was seriously interested in boxing. After graduating from high school, he entered the Catholic University of Andres Bello, at the same time studying, he performed in boxing at an amateur level in the featherweight category for three years. Then he went to study in the USA and, having graduated from the University of Toledo, received his second higher education.
He was a sports official in Venezuela in various positions, in particular, he was a member of the Boxing Commission of the state of Aragua, and he gained some international fame. After the current president of the World Boxing Association (WBA) Rodrigo Sanchez passed away in 1982, Mendoza became one of the candidates for the vacant post. His main rival in the election was American Robert Lee, deputy commissioner of the Athletic Commission of the State of New Jersey, but with a slight margin (41 votes to 32), he still managed to win [1] .
Gilberto Mendoza was subsequently re-elected for a new term and in total led the association for 33 years. During his reign, she underwent many changes, for example, for the first time, secondary intercontinental and regional champion titles were introduced, regular and super world champion titles appeared - later other major boxing organizations WBC , WBO and IBF borrowed the practice of separating titles. Mendoza held many historically significant events, for example, his idea was the worldwide action "Knock Out Drugs." Much has been done in terms of enhancing medical surveillance of boxers and ensuring health safety [2] .
In December 2015, Mendoza announced his resignation as president of the WBA due to poor health. His son, Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, who was previously Executive Vice President and for many years helped his father with administrative work, became the interim acting head of the organization - a little later he was unanimously elected the new full president. At the same time, Mendoza Sr. took the post of Honorary President of the organization, on which he remained until his death on March 11, 2016. He died of cancer in a hospital in Caracas - at that time he was 72 years old [3] [4] .
Notes
- ↑ Michael Katz and Frank Litsky. Boxers Awaiting A Third Group . The New York Times (October 9, 1982). Date of treatment February 4, 2017.
- ↑ Dmitry Ivanov. Died former WBA President Gilberto Mendoza . allfight.ru (March 13, 2016). Date of treatment February 4, 2017.
- ↑ Jesus Mendoza elected president of the World Boxing Association after the resignation of his father . TASS (December 15, 2015). Date of treatment February 4, 2017.
- ↑ The former president of the WBA Passed away . boxnews.com.ua (March 12, 2016). Date of treatment February 4, 2017.
Links
- Who is Gilberto Mendoza? (English) - biography on the website of the World Boxing Association
- Gilberto Mendoza - Supervisor Profile at BoxRec