World Boxing Federation

World Boxing Federation

Abbreviation	WBF
Formation	1988
Type	Non-profit institution
Purpose	Boxing sanctioning organization
Headquarters	Luxembourg
Region served	Worldwide
President	Howard Goldberg
Website	www.worldboxingfederation.org

The World Boxing Federation (WBF) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It was created in 1988.¹

The World Boxing Federation was originally established in 1988 by Larry Carrier, who was part owner of Bristol Motor Speedway in northeastern Tennessee.²³⁴⁵ It was an expanded version of the American Pro Boxing Association.⁶ The original concept for the WBF was written on the back of a napkin as an alternative for boxing as Carrier felt there was a lack of vision in boxing.⁶⁷⁸ The WBF wanted to give overlooked fighters a chance and wanted to be a more affordable sanctioning body for aspiring promoters by only charging a $5,000 sanctioning fee.⁹⁷ The WBF also sought to promote itself in an honest manner and help the sport.⁷ The promotion signed their first title fight in November 1990, when they organized a cruiserweight bout between Rickey Patkey and Joe Louis for December 7, 1990.¹⁰⁸

The WBF's titles were not initially recognized by the British Boxing Board of Control and had to wait until 1995 to achieve recognition.¹¹ The company had 17 field offices outside of the US by 1995¹² and the company moved its headquarters to Las Vegas prior to 1998.¹³ Larry Carrier sold the WBF to Ron Scalf in June 1998.¹⁴¹⁵ The organization closed in 2004 after losing a lawsuit¹⁶ and was revived in 2009.¹¹¹¹⁷ In 2022, the promotion announced that they would no longer sanction title fights with boxers with negative records in an effort to raise standards.¹⁸

The organization has sanctioned matches on 6 of the 7 continents.¹⁹ The organization has three levels of champions including World champions, Intercontinental champions and International champions. The organization also sanctions women's boxing matches.¹⁹ The promotion also monitors its judges closely and feels integrity is its greatest asset.²⁰

The promotion also had their own magazine called, "Inside Boxing with the WBF".⁴

As of 24 May 2026 (men):

Weight class:	Champion:	Reign began:
Minimumweight	vacant
Light flyweight	vacant
Flyweight	vacant
Super flyweight	vacant
Bantamweight	vacant
Super bantamweight	vacant
Featherweight	vacant
Super featherweight	vacant
Lightweight	vacant
Super lightweight	vacant
Welterweight	vacant
Super welterweight	Freddy Kiwitt (LBR)	November 24, 2023
Middleweight	Alan Graves (GIB)	May 3, 2025
Super middleweight	Alaa Al Mahmoud (SYR)	May 1, 2025
Light heavyweight	vacant
Cruiserweight	Łukasz Pławecki (POL)	May 23, 2026
Bridgerweight	Artur Mann (GER)	February 7, 2026
Heavyweight	Willy Kyakonye (UGA)	May 17, 2025