For those who did not know, today was the first day of the 49th WBC Convention. I have no idea what is more shocking, the fact that there is a WBC convention or that they have had 49 of them. Bob Newman of Fight News reported the ceremonies of the day.
The conference started out with the Jimmy Lennon Jr. doing his signature "It's Showtime!" schtick before the speeches of the day got started. I managed to find the absolutely thrilling video of the opening ceremonies. The highlight of these ceremonies were the presentation of the flags from each of the WBC members each brought in by former and current champions including Roy Jones Jr. and Canelo Alvarez. Also part of the opening ceremonies was Wynona McCullough singing with a children's chorus the theme song of the WBC, which is "We Are The World." This song was originally written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in order to raise money for humanitarian aid in Africa. Now the WBC is using it so that they can raise money, makes sense to me.
There were several awards given out during the first day including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In move that could only be described as ironic, the WBC gave the award to treasurer Juan Sanchez for his years of dedication to the WBC and the sport of boxing. If this is the guy who came up with the idea for the silver belt and the diamond championship, then they owe that guy a Learjet. Seriously, how much in extra sanctioning fees do you think that this guy's ideas brought in for the WBC? The Lifetime Achievement Award is the least they could do for the rainmaker!
Finally, there was a talk by Dr. Donald Catlin, who is known as one of the founders of modern-drug testing in sports. Hopefully this is a sign that the boxing commissions will finally get serious about implementing tough testing standards. However, in something that can only happen in boxing, Don King interrupted Catlin's speech with a boisterous entrance. Of course something silly would take away attention from important issues.