The World Boxing Association (WBA) is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the IBF, WBC, and WBO.
 The WBA awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level.
 Founded in the United States in 1921 by thirteen state representatives as the National Boxing Association (NBA), in 1962 it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity worldwide, and began to gain other nations as members.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is one of four major organizations which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
 Owing to the many historically high-profile bouts sanctioned by the organization, and legendary fighters who have been recognised as WBC World champions, the organization still remains one of the major four sanctioning bodies.
 All four organizations however recognise the legitimacy of each other, and each have interwoven histories dating back several decades.
The Ring magazine was established in 1922.
 In 1954 the magazine established its own boxing Hall of Fame and inducted 155 members before it was abandoned after the 1987 inductions.
 Boxing inductions continue through the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
 141 members of the old "The Ring" magazine Hall of Fame have been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame since 1989.
 The 14 members who have yet to be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame are listed below, with their year of induction into the "The Ring" magazine Boxing Hall of Fame:
Mike Gibbons (July 20, 1887 in St. Paul, Minnesota – August 31, 1956) was an American boxer from 1908 to 1922.
 The brother of heavyweight Tommy Gibbons, Mike claimed Middleweight Champion of the World status in 1909 following Stanley Ketchel's murder.
 Although he never won the title, Gibbons is regarded as one of the all-time best welter and middleweight boxers by historians.
 Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Gibbons as the #18 ranked middleweight of all time, while "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #9.
 The International Boxing Research Organization rates Gibbons as the 17th best middleweight ever and boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 92nd in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.
 Gibbons retired due to deteriorating vision.
 Following his boxing career he entered business in his native St. Paul, and became a member of the Minnesota Athletic Commission.
 Gibbons was elected to the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1958, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is a sanctioning organization which recognizes professional boxing world champions.
 It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF).
 The WBO's headquarters are located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Boxing After Dark is an HBO boxing program, premiering in April 1996, that usually shows fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights.
 Unlike its sister program, "HBO World Championship Boxing", "BAD" features fighters who are usually moving up from ESPN's "Friday Night Fights" or another basic cable boxing program.
 This is where fighters are given their start to become famous depending on how well they fare on "BAD" they might have a title fight on "World Championship Boxing" or could fall back (Ex: Jason Litzau had many entertaining fights on ESPN before moving up to "BAD" to face Jose Hernandez.
 After Litzau lost by knockout he returned to "FNF")
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport.
 Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes.
 In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level (particularly in the WBA side) after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime.
 In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, United States, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide.
 The International Boxing Hall of Fame is one of two recognized international boxing halls of fame, with the other being the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Riverside, CA.
The history of boxing in the Philippines is the history of boxing and the evolution and progress of the sport in the Philippines.
 In the Philippines, boxing is considered a famous sport together with basketball, despite of the glories and honors it brought to the country, having produced Olympic standouts, professional world champions and some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport.
 The Philippines has yet to win an Olympic gold medal but amateur boxing has given the country more medals in the Summer Olympics than any sport with 5 out of its 9 total medals.
 On the other hand, professional boxing have produced 40 major world champions (including those of Filipino heritage), one of the most in the world.
 Filipino greats like Pancho Villa, Flash Elorde and Ceferino Garcia are members of the two highly respected boxing hall of fames - International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) and World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF).
 Thus, giving the Philippines the most number of boxing hall of fame members out of Asia.

Question: Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport, WBO and which one of how many major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanction world championship boxing bouts, began operating?
Answer: four