MACAU, Oct. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBF Silk Road Championship Tournament Inaugural Fight & IBF World Championship was held in Macau East Asian Games Dome on October 27th and 28th successfully. IBF Silk Road Championship Tournament is the first professional tournament held by the international sports organization in the "Belt and Road" area. The fight was supported by The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region, the Macau SAR Government and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. The fight was co-hosted by IBF China, People Sports and Multinational Holdings Group, co-organized by Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macau and produced by REJOY. The fight gained strong support from Wynn Palace, SUNCITY Group, the Venetian Macau and Air Macau. PPV Service of Tencent Sports aired the live broadcast of the fight on October 28th.
The opening of the fight was full of rituals. When China's national anthem was played, people present stood up and looked at the national flag on the huge screen over the ring. Before the boxers of the main game appeared, the committee of the game arranged a special demonstration of the golden belt of IBF B&R. The belt with a white surface is designed especially for the professional boxers in the "Belt and Road" area. The level that the belt symbols is higher than any other golden belts of intercontinental boxing belts in IBF family.
In the chromatography of IBF golden belts, the belts of IBF World boxing Championship (male) and IBF China Championship (male) are mainly red, while the belt of IBF Female World Championship is blue. The red surface of the belt represents enthusiasm and power of professional boxing, and blue surface represents elegance and wisdom of boxing sports. While the IBF B&R golden belt has more affluent meanings: the white surface of belt symbolizes the holy and pure spirit of Silk Road and boxing, the golden surface symbolizes the desert of the Silk Road on land. Moreover, the white color also represents the spindrift from the Maritime Silk Road.
On the occasion, the new IBF B&R golden belt was jointly uncovered by Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao Special Administrative Region Yao Jian, Director of the Social Affairs Department of the Macao SAR Government Alexis Tam, IBF President Daryl J. Peoples, IBF B&R Region President Wang Ruihang, Secretary of the People.com Li Qi, President and Executive Director of Wynn Palace Linda Chen, Chairman of the Multinational Holdings Group Liu Yahuang and Chairman of the Chong Ou Holdings Group Zeng Zhilong.
IBF Silk Road Tournament became the first professional boxing match season co-hosted by IBF. The best boxers from countries along the "Belt & Road" area fairly competed on this platform. Generally, the boxer who wins the IBF B&R golden belt is likely to be listed in IBF World ranking and will have an opportunity to compete with the world champions. A total of 24 boxers from China, Russia, Thailand and Philippines were engaged in the fight for the new golden belt in the 2-days games.
On October 28th, two main games attracted great attention: IBF Female Mini Flyweight World Championship Optional Defense between Cai Zongju and Gretchen Magbanua Abaniel, and IBF I/C Light Heavyweight Championship between Meng Fanlong and Emmanuel Danso. Cai Zongju, who won the IBF golden belt for the first time on the 5th CCTV New Year Cup IBF World Championship during the Spring Festival this year, successfully kept her golden belt after a 10-round fight. Meng Fanlong gained his first IBF intercontinental golden belt.
