New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA) is one of the four governing bodies for the sport of

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

in New Zealand. NZPBA is a non-profit organisation.

History

The body was founded as South Pacific Boxing Association, with the name changed to New Zealand Professional Boxing Association Inc. in 1984 at its AGM. The new name was greeted and accepted by the World Bodies and Commonwealth Boxing Council. In 2006, NZPBA had its first female national champion with Daniella Smith defeating Sue Glassey for the

super welterweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF o ...

title. Smith is New Zealand's second professional national champion. In April 2016, NZPBA sanctioned New Zealand's first major world title fight (from one of the four major sanctioning bodies) for the WBC female middleweight title with

Kali Reis Kali Reis (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight ti ...

defeating Maricela Cornejo by

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split de ...

. The fight night also featured two of New Zealand's first

WBC Silver The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

title fights with Melissa St. Vil defeating Baby Nansen and Ronica Jeffrey defeating Gentiane Lupi. On the same night, NZPBA had New Zealand's first female professional boxing referee, with Shelley Ashton officiating Nailini Helu vs. Kirsty Lupeamanu.

Controversy

Former NZPBA President

Lance Revill Lance Revill (born 30 August 1953) is the former president of the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association ( NZPBA), a New Zealand boxing promoter, referee, and a former New Zealand professional boxer. Revill compiled a professional record of ...

is known for sharing his opinions with New Zealand's local media, causing major scrutiny to the association. He drew particular attention for his comments directed at

Joseph Parker Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...

. Since the beginning of Parker's career, Revill has made regular comments about Parker, including when he turned pro, alleging that Parker's promoters were only interested in money, that Parker was too hyped up and that Parker didn't win his world title fight in December 2016. In February 2017, it was announced that due to backlash against his comments against Parker, Revill resigned as president of NZPBA. Vice President John Conway was named interim president. In 2018, NZPBA officiated a corporate boxing event in Christchurch in November where first-time corporate boxer Kain Parsons was knocked unconscious. Kain Parsons was taken to Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit, but he died four days later after the event. The vice president of the organisation at the time, Kevin Pyne, was the referee of the fight. Former NZPBA President Lance Revill stated that he believed the fight should have been stopped earlier. In 2019, Kevin Pyne was elected president of NZPBA, despite being the referee of the fight.

Current roles

Board members

President: Kylie Bell Vice President: 1st Jo Gallagher, 2nd Barry Galbraith National Secretary: Tui Gallagher National Treasurer: James Dellows Regional Rep - Canterbury: Kevin Pyne Regional Rep - Wellington/Lower North Island: Joel Revill Regional Rep - BOP/Waikato: Mike Francis Regional Rep - Northland/Auckland: John Conway

Current national champions

Men

Women

Current provincial champions

NZPBA Central title

Heavyweight Men

Middleweight Men

Boxing and Wrestling Act 1981

References

External links

* {{Oceania in topic, Sport in Sports governing bodies in New Zealand Boxing in New Zealand Professional boxing governing bodies