By Sherry Abbasi
AFTER a near-30-year tenure as president of the WBO (World Boxing Organisation), Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel stepped down at the end of 2024, marking the end of an era for the Puerto Rican-based sanctioning body.
During his time at the helm of the organisation, it grew in stature and reputation within the sport and joined the WBA, WBC and IBF as a major sanctioning body – ultimately leading to the ‘four belt era’ of boxing.
Its new president, Gustavo Olivieri, who is also a qualified lawyer like his predecessor, began his journey with the WBO over a decade ago, initially as an intern before rising through the ranks and ultimately as the right-hand man to Paco Valcarcel.
“I was supposed to be doing eighty hours a month for my internship with the WBO but tripled that to show my work ethic and show how important it was to me to learn everything I possibly could about the way things work here, I wasn’t afraid of putting in the work and learning everything,” he said.
“I built myself to where I am now through perseverance and adapting to the ever-changing duties and processes we have put in place. Up until the last two years here, internally from the main office, I was running the main day-to-day operations outside of the big decisions, which were in consultation with Paco and certainly there were some promoters like Frank Warren and Bob Arum who have long-standing relationships with him who would speak directly to him.”
One of the glaringly obvious things that stands out about Olivieri in comparison to his fellow presidents of the WBA, WBC and IBF, respectively, is the age gap. At 41, Olivieri is much younger than the other three presidents and feels that this should be looked at as a positive for the future of the organisation as he not only has the experience of working under Paco for many years but now has his own perspective and understanding on how to push things forward for the next generation.
“Paco and I, there is a generational gap with him at 76 and me at 41. I’m lucky that I came in at the right time and correct moment. There were a number of factors behind the scenes, but the committee and Paco endorsed my candidacy – that’s the truth.
“Me and him have a lot in common and he always said he liked the fact that I am a lawyer like him and our thought process matched up in a lot of ways – this role requires responsibility, integrity, knowledge and relationship management above all, and I have come to learn a lot from him as my mentor.
“I have a long list of ideas that I would like to implement in the coming years, but the main priority for me is to do more for the fighters. Yes, we give them a ranking and they can fight for a minor title or a world title, they get a championship belt for their efforts.
“But, for me I would love to help the fighters who aren’t earning purses like a Canelo, an Usyk, Crawford or Serrano for example. If someone has fought for a regional title five or six times, I would love to put a program in place that the sanctioning fees that have been deducted will be given back to you in the form of an investment fund.
“It’s about educating the fighters; a lot of them don’t know that they are independent contractors and need help to ensure they are paying the correct taxes and social security, at least here in America.
“I want transparency for the fighters and even the fans. They deserve to know how things work and the reasons behind the decisions we make. A boxing course for the uninitiated, if you will, it’s about bringing more fans into the inner workings of the sport.”
Olivieri has been very clear in his belief that it is the responsibility of the people within the sport to inform and educate the fans, whether hardcore or casual, on the inner workings of the sport. He touched on a few rulings made in recent months and clarified the position of the WBO on two fighters, Teofimo Lopez and Joseph Parker, below.
“Teofimo Lopez is our super-lightweight champion. He has been given 180 days to defend his world title against the winner of the interim title matchup between Catterall and Barboza on February 15th. When he defeated Josh Taylor to become champion, Top Rank solicited that he be designated as super champion. This is not a title but a distinction whereby a fighter who meets certain criteria is conferred certain privileges and rights.
“One of the rights is to discharge a mandatory within 18 months rather than the standard timescale of nine months, that’s a right. A privilege would be if he wanted to be the mandatory for Brian Norman at welterweight, he could put in a request as per his privileges as super champion and we can grant that request. We came to this decision as the WBO must adhere to and abide by its rules, if not we would be doing a disservice to the other fighters in the division.
“If the topic of a unification with IBF champion Richardson Hitchins comes up, this will be referred to the championship committee, which is composed of four members and they will make a decision based on what best serves the interests of boxing and the industry, then we will give it its due course of consideration.
“In the case of Joseph Parker, he is a former world champion with us and is our current interim heavyweight champion. We made the ruling that he will be stripped of his interim champion status the second the bell rings for his IBF world championship bout against Daniel Dubois, as we cannot unify an interim championship with a full world championship.”
“This is a straightforward ruling and there is precedent as we stripped Jermell Charlo of his super-welterweight title the second the bell rang for his bout with Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight title. Yes, this was not a unification but rather due to inactivity and an overdue mandatory in Tim Tszyu, but the principle remains.
“I hope this paints a clear picture for people and shows we use logic and valid reasoning in coming to these decisions, which can sometimes be very difficult as we do not want champions losing titles outside the ring but rather in competition, inside the ring.”
The WBO has officially entered a new era with Gustavo Olivieri at the helm. Boxing as always, is a sport in need of reform and innovation at every level. Olivieri says he will be pushing for change and better practices within the WBO and the wider sport throughout his tenure as president.
