(December 26th) After mandating on December 15th during their yearly Convention that WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. face "Diamond Belt" Champion Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez next they have changed up and have voted to allow Chavez to make a voluntary defense of his title on February 4th before facing Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez.

After both the WBC confirmed with Martinez team (DiBella Entertainment) that they would be go along with the voluntary defense. Martinez will go ahead with his tentative scheduled fight against Matthew Macklin in March leaving Chavez free to first defend his 160lb title against Marco Antonio Rubio, 53-5-1, 46Ko’s who destroyed Mat Vanda during the WBC’s Convention earlier this month.

The Chavez / Rubio but is scheduled for February 4th at the Alamo Dome, San Antonio, Texas and if Chavez is successful he must then defend his title against Martinez in his very next bout.

Chavez, 44-0-1, 31Ko’s who owns two wins over Vanda stopped Peter Manfredo Jr. in five rounds in November.

At 36 year of age Martinez, 48-2-2, 27Ko’s coming off what many called a subpar performance stopping UK’s Darren Barker in eleven has quickly become boxing’s newly crowned “most avoided fighter.” “Maravilla” will now go ahead and face UK’s newly relocated Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin, 28-3, 19Ko’s St. Patty’s Day March 17th at Madison Square Garden.

Macklin enters off what many in the boxing circles saw as a the robbery of the year losing a twelve round split decision to WBA Champion Felix Strum in Sturm’s back yard in June.
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WBC Mandates Chavez Jr. vs Sergio Martinez

(December 15th) During the third day of the WBC Convention in Las Vegas WBC President Jose Sulaiman announced the mandatory bout between Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and "Diamond Belt" Champion Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez.

President Jose Sulaiman mediated the contentious meeting between both parties claiming the WBC has rules and the Board has made a ruling. Chavez was looking toward Miguel Cotto who is at light middleweight and no time frame was announced.

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WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS Dec. 14th

December 14, 2011 – Las Vegas
WBC President Jose Sulaiman opened the Wednesday morning assembly meeting of the WBC’s 49th annual convention with a discussion of the upcoming WBC World Cup tournament. He said, “This tournament will be for 40 weeks. We already have a verbal agreement with a television company in the United States, and the committee is closing with other television networks around the world. It’s going to be fantastic!

“We are going to have all of the champions of every Continental Federation meet each other, plus the WBC Silver champions and the WBC International champions. We intend to have the first fight for say, $40,000 for the winner and $20,000 for the loser – it’s just an example. The winner goes to the next round and then he will 50 and the loser 25, the winner will go on to make 60 and the loser 30. The final champion will make 250 or more. So it’s very, very interesting. We are offering this also to other promoters. It will be very good for boxers, promoters, and boxing. I believe that this is one of the greatest programs that the WBC has had in its 50 years. It is the opening to the world with authentic champions of the Continental Federations affiliated with the WBC.

“The television is trying to select five or seven cities of the world only, in order that they can really have the quality according to their specifications. It’s very interesting to me because the promoters of the fighters will have participation in the tournament.

“The tournament will start in the month of May, 2012. It will be for 40 weeks, and we plan to have a final world championship during the week of the 50th anniversary of the WBC. So it’s a matter of all the promoters to talk with the presidents of the federations so that you are sure the boxers – every champion of the NABF, every champion of the South American Federation, of Asia, Europe, Africa, Great Britain – will participate.

“We will have eight divisions – flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight, and we have one for you to decide, between super fly, super bantam, super feather, super light, super middle. Which do you believe have more fighters and more attractions of the supers? For the developing countries, they might like the smaller fighters, like super flys or super bantams. Other countries might like heavier fighters, like super middles. Which division would you like to be included?”

“This is going to be sensational, because they are offering around 15 to 16 million dollars for the program. So, the first fights we have to take a little bit of money so we can add after every fight that we present in the future. It’s very interesting for the promoters and the champions for the opportunity.

“The intention is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the WBC with this tournament. If this tournament is successful, we are trying to have a four-year contract with the televisions that are going to handle this World Cup.

“I believe that this is an opportunity to show the world that every Continental Federation has a champion in most of the divisions. This will be an authenic, true confrontation between the champions in the World Cup of the 164 countries affiliated with the WBC. We will be in constant communication with all of the promoters and with all the commissions, obviously, to present a very, very good tournament.

“We have already advised the Continental Federations that if they do not have a champion in a division, a vacant title, that they can select the boxer that they believe best represents the Federation in that vacant division. I hope you see with enthusiasm this new program of the WBC.”

The promoters in attendance voted to include super lightweight as the eighth weight division. Luxury watchmaker Hublot has agreed to donate a watch to the World Cup champions.

In his opening day speech, President Sulaiman said that the income from the World Cup would fund his proposed pension plan for retired boxers, and he also asked promoters affiliated with the WBC to donate one dollar for every ticket sold at their events to add to the pension fund. Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, who is presenting the fight card that will end this convention on Friday night, pledged to donate one dollar from each ticket sold for the event.

Mauro Gazcon of the World Cup committee included additional information in a press release: “The global tournament will be the biggest boxing event of all time with 40 world class boxing events, starting May 2012 and featuring 96 boxing champions from 10 Continental Federations across 164 countries in eight weight categories. Never before has there been a boxing event of this magnitude. This unprecedented boxing platform will have a global exposure that will help the promotion of the sport of boxing and its current and future world champions.”

President Sulaiman also proposed pensions for Gerald McClellan and Iran Barkley, both of which were approved by the Board of Governors. President Sulaiman added, “We usually do not say the names of the fighters who receive monthly pensions from the WBC because we don’t want to embarrass them.”

Regarding wbcboxing.tv and suljos.tv, President Sulaiman said, “I wanted to leave something as President. I have been working on this for seven years on the internet. Wbcboxing.tv and suljos.tv have been showing fights for 18 months. I believe that television is not the future, but we don’t want to fight television. We want to be an addition to television. Today, there is no fight that can be done without an extra income. Many of the promoters receive very little from television, but television is the opportunity of selling sponsorships, and nobody wants to pay sponsorships if they don’t know if it’s going to be shown in the houses where they see boxing.

“After seven years, we have become the only site on the internet in the world that can produce in high definition, without interruptions, a boxing match. We have been transmitting boxing matches for 18 months, every Saturday. It’s excellent! You can even see it better than television many times. We want to show you some charts - in regards to television, the line is not going up, it is going down, cable TV is going down. The internet is going up. So television, to us, does not look to be the future.

“This is to show you that wbcboxing.tv and suljos.tv is for every promoter. What we want to do is have the WBC offering the promoters the opportunity to use the internet when they don’t have a television contract. The key here is that the quality of live events on the internet is as high as it can be. We know that champions of the world only fight once or twice in a year. Why? Because they don’t have television – no television, no fights, no opportunities. We can do this in a partnership with the promoters and the WBC, in which the promoters can sell their own sponsorships. This is giving you the internet, not only the live gate, waiting in line for television. This is, I think, a great opportunity.

“We have been showing this or one and a half years without charging one penny to anybody. It has been free, and it can continue to be free if we get the sponsors, which is very easy. We have now about 90,000 visits every month. In the past, we didn’t have as many visitors. I don’t understand exactly this report that was done, but it means that those 90,000 visits are two million users. So this is an opportunity I am giving to you. This has been, as of today, a joint venture of the WBC and myself for seven years to bring it to this point. I just wanted you to know, all the promoters in the world, you have this available to you. You can sell sponsorhips and have that income now. In the future, when the internet is firmly established, you can even charge one, two, three, four, five, 10 dollars, according to the fight.”

The referees seminar on Tuesday was led by Ring Officials Board Chairman Hubert Minn of the U.S. and Co-Chairman Bruce McTavish of the Philippines. Mr. Minn said, “Yesterday at the referees seminar, we had 200 in attendance. We started off with a lot of technical difficulties, but what we did was, we had one segment where I got together nine of the top referees in the world, three of them from Las Vegas, and each one had to review a round in which they had some problems – for Kenny Bayless, the Pacquiao-Mosley fight. And what they did was, they showed their character and intregrity by admitting that they made a mistake and what they learned from it. Then they shared it with the group and answered questions. And to me, you’re not going to improve unless first you admit you made an error. The crowd was just amazed. They said, ‘You know what? We’ve never seen things like this before.’

“My idea of a good seminar is to be as inclusive as possible – I want promoters, I want boxers, I want people talking to us and sharing. The whole goal is that we can become better officials. We’re pushing this one team – get it right. We all work as a team, and I think it’s beginning to show up in our assignments as well as our scoring and safety. We also gave out a token of appreciation for loyalty to the ring officials who have been with the WBC for over 20 years for loyalty, honor, performance. That was a highlight for me. We have a judges seminar today, and we’re expecting 250 to attend.”

SPAR Scientific Chairman Dr. Gerald Finerman of UCLA gave a speech and video presentation on concussive brain injury and recovery. After his presentation, Dr. Finerman said, “Starting in 1983, the WBC donated approximately one million dollars over about 10 years to our research program. It was the ‘seed money’ for our program, which has now become one of the top five brain research centers in the U.S. – it’s the Head Trauma Center at UCLA. When you do research, and you’re seeking to get support from the government, you write a grant, you tell them what you’ve done. You can’t just say, ‘I’m thinking about doing this.’ You have to say, ‘I’ve done this, I’ve published these articles, we’re capable of doing this work.’ Then you compete against a number or other people or institutions who want that support. It’s now a National Institute of Health program, funded by the Federal Government. I thank Jose and the WBC for making all of this possible.”

President Sulaiman added, “All of this came from a conversation we had 30 years ago. I’m very proud of the WBC for participating in starting a program that is now in the hands of the federal government of the United States. Thank you, Dr. Finerman. Thank you so much.”

The WBC presented Dewey Bozella an award for overcoming injustice.

Tuesday afternoon was devoted to ratings, which will be available soon.

WBC Cares Chairperson Jill Diamond reported, “Today, the WBC World Boxing Cares visited the children at SHERO and the Las Vegas Boys and Girls Club. Many of our greatest champions gave their time and their hearts to these children. At least 20 attended, including Ray Leonard, Larry Holmes, Juan LaPorte, Christy Martin, Tommy Hearns, Naomi Togashi, Momo Koseki, Jose Napoles, Salvador Sanchez II, Julian Jackson, Manuel Medina, Hector Camacho, Milton McCrory, Iran Barkley, Mariana Juarez, Jhonny Gonzalez, “Comanche Boy” George Tahdooahnippah, Chauncey Welliver, Joe Hipp, Francois Botha, Naoko Fujioka, and ring officials Kenny Bayless, who was our guiding light for this trip, Sparkle Lee, Stephen Blea, and Jay Nady.

“In addition to the excitement that we brought to them, they put on a sparring demonstration that their coach, Richard Steel, put together for us. Kenny Bayless was the referee. The children cheered for the red and blue corners but in these short fights, everyone came out a winner. It was an emotional and gratifying afternoon, and we hope we gave the children as much as they gave us.

“WBC Cares couldn’t have done this this without the support of its members, the cars donated by Jay and Kenny, help by Deborah Hawkins, and the extra love given yesterday by Raylene Carbone, Marcie Morrow, Elizabeth Reyes, Monique Rendon, Stevie Karns, Ricardo Sequeira, Alma, Pepe, Alain Flores, Veronica Medal, and all of our members who make this possible. We also gave out awards to SHERO founder Eileen Oser, and Jim Richards, who helps the Boys and Girls Club, for their dedication and support of young people. Oh yes, and there was cake!”

                                  

(Photo credit: Pepe Rodriguez)
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World Boxing Council News From the Convention

December 13, 2011 – Las Vegas
Several items on the agenda were discussed during the Tuesday morning general assembly meeting at the WBC’s 49th annual convention, led by WBC President Jose Sulaiman at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

The motion was approved to inform the fighters’ corners of the scores after the fourth and eight rounds wherever the WBC’s open scoring is not used.

The motion was approved for the use of instant replay.

Several members of the WBC Board of Governors were disappointed that no state commissioners from the United States were in attendance at the convention except Tim Lueckenhoff, the President of the Association of Boxing Commissions and head of the Missouri state commission.

There was also disappointment among Board members that many commissions in the United States not only continue to resist many positive changes that the WBC has recently implemented, but many state commissioners don’t even acknowledge – or maybe even realize – that many of the most important rules that they currently use to make boxing a better and safer sport originated with the WBC.

President Sulaiman said, “I believe that we can reach an agreement with the commissions of the United States because we are not asking to change all of the rules and constitution, we are not asking them to get out so we can be the boss. We are just asking to be accepted to apply and implement the important safety rules of the WBC. Because if they don’t, the WBC will not continue communicating with the commissions that will not accept anything.

“The United States is a country of good people, it’s a country of sensitivity to the poor. When there are disasters, they send planes full of clothes and food. It’s a different country than some of the commissions. Some of the commissions are very discriminating of foreigners, but we still hope to reach an agreement with them. Everything they have has come from the WBC. They will not even admit that we implemented them.

“One of the most important issues is the implementation of the International Visa for fighters, and I’m happy with its approval because that will eliminate the abuse of boxers. It will eliminate the pirates of the gymnasiums, taking boxers for peanuts. It will eliminate bringing them without immigration papers. And Im very happy about the announcement of the scores after the fourth and eighth rounds, because that will reduce many of the problems that we have today. Boxing is the only mysterious sport - everybody has to wait to see what three people are saying at the end of the fight without knowing what’s going to happen.

“I’m also very happy with the instant video replay, which has brought out many, many injustices of the past. Two examples are where they disqualified Humberto Soto for hitting someone on the canvas, when the replay showed that the punch went over his head. Then the Dawson-Hopkins fight - same thing.”

Regarding the International Visa, Mauricio Sulaiman, Executive of the WBC and Vice President, Mexico, of the North American Boxing Federation, said, “The NABF has been working very closely with Tim Lueckenhoff of the ABC. The problem is that in Mexico and the U.S.A. and many countries is that there are many managers or so-called promoters that steal boxers and bring them into the U.S.A. or Mexico with different names and different records. Many commissions do not have computers or even fax numbers. Their communications are not always efficient. We have had some examples of that where Mexican fighters come into the U.S.A. or American fighters come into Mexico. There is a lot of work still to be done, but I think we are going in the right direction.”

Tim Lueckenhoff addressed the assembly and said, “I have so many thoughts running through my mind when we talk about this because in the United States, when we first started I.D. cards, there was a huge problem, a huge undertaking. There were fighters fighting under fake names here all the time. Unfortunately, that was occurring in my state prior to me being here, but the I.D. card all but stopped that. I hate to say mixed martial arts, but we have a database currently that all our commissions use for mixed martial arts that has a picture of the fighter there. So whenever I’m approving fights, I can see who that fighter is, so when I go the the weigh-in I know what he looks like, so that’s another thought we might have. There has to be a database, number one, and all of the commissions have to import information to that database. I know that costs money, I realize we’re talking a world-wide situation, but it’s got to start somewhere. So I think that’s the first goal that maybe WBC should speak about - contracting with some sort of database to import this information. There’s no question that our commissions in the United States, if they had a database that they could go look at a fighter coming from outside of the country and learn about that fighter’s past, they would use it. There’s no question in my mind.

“Now of course, there’s federal law in the United States that requires us to issue an I.D. card with an I.D. number, so we’re going to have our own number regardless, because our law says that. But if there’s an international number, that’s fine, too. It’s another way to identify that fighter. By all means I support that, love to have the meeting with Joe [Dwyer] and you, Jose, along with some of our commissions.

“Working with the 78 or so commissions that are members of the Association of Boxing Commissions is like herding sheep. There’s some that, I guarantee you, unfortunately if you’d ask them what the WBC or the NABF was, they wouldn’t know what the hell you were talking about. What’s unfortunate in our country is that we have governors that are appointing commissioners or executive directors like me that don’t have a clue about boxing. They’re political people, and we stuggle with that on a daily basis.

“I can tell you that there are people that fight in the United States on suspension. I just got emailed a little bit ago, a fighter that fought in Florida this past weeked was on the national suspension list. The bottom line with that is that a promoter submits a name at the last minute, and the commission says, ‘Aw, they’re okay, there’s no problem.’ They don’t check the database and bang, they’ve got a kid on suspension. That happens on a regular basis, we find it every day. We try to educate our members, I call everyone when there’s a problem like that.

“By all means, I want you to know that we support that and you have an open invitation to come to our meeting next summer in Clearwater, Florida, or if we could meet at another location, I’d love to do it.”

Promoter Don Majeski addressed the assembly about the necessity of having neutral officials for fights. He said, “Every other country in the world agrees to assign a neutral referee and judges for world title fights - the United States is the only country in the world that does not. Jose, one of the problems you have is that you’re 100 steps ahead of everybody else. You need to be only five steps ahead of them so they can catch up.” Mr. Majeski also referred to the recent world title fight of another organization in the U.S. where the local referee controversially penalized the champion from England two points and cost him the title.

Arif Khatib, founder and president of the Multi Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, announced his organization’s first inductees. He said, “I thank the WBC for partnering with us to give us an opportunity to induct some of these incredible fighters into the Multi Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. We don’t look at race. We look at their accomplishments and their contributions to society.

“It is indeed my pleasure to be part of that historical process and for those of you who are here, or see it on film, be grateful because history is made today in front of you. It has not happened before and it is not likely to happen again because the WBC has gathered some of the greatest champions in the world, and they are here.”

The first inductee was trainer Eddie Futch. His award was accepted by his wife, Eva, who said, “I really appreciate this. I know Eddie would be very honored. Thank you, Mr. Sulaiman, and the whole WBC organization, especially since Eddie was part of breaking the racial barriers traveling with Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson during World War II. So we’ve come a long way, breaking down the racial barriers. We even have an African-American President now. Americans have a habit of hiding their minorities to clean up their messes. Also, it takes a team behind a great man, and there are people here today that I want to thank – Shelly Williams, who assisted us, Thell Torrance, former partner and business manager, Kenny Norton is here, sadly Joe Frazier’s lost his life. I could go on and on, but I will keep it short. Thank you, everybody.”

The second inductee was Joe Frazier. His award was accepted by his business manager Les Wolfe.

The third was Marvelous Marvin Hagler, who accepted the award himself and said, “I apologize for my voice – traveling too much – but I’m very touched and very honored. I want to thank President Sulaiman, the WBC, also the Multi Ethnic group that is acknowledging my achievements in boxing. I believe with this award, I have accomplished everything I wanted in the boxing game and I thank you for it. This convention has been very important for all us fighters, Mr. President, because we deal on the outside looking in, seeing the great work that you did in protecting us all from harm, and I appreciate it - but I still think we should have 15 rounds.”

Jeff Fenech was the fourth inductee.

The fifth was Thomas Hearns, who said, “Jose, does this mean I made it? It is an honor and pleasure to be here to accept this award and I thank the WBC. I never dreamed of this happening, I just dreamed of becoming a fighter, a boxer, and it wasn’t long after becoming a boxer that I dreamed of becoming a world champion. And from that dream, I decided that I wanted to hold more than just one title - I wanted to hold several titles, and that all came true for me. I thank God now, because it wouldn’t have been possible without his blessing. He gave me his blessings to become the man I am today. I thank God, I thank the WBC. Jose, my good friend, from day one has always treated me very nice, a very respectful man. I just thank the world for being behind me, for supporting me, for being there whenever I stepped into the ring and start to perform and look out and see all these people, it just made me want to do so much better. I would give you my best at all times. Today I’m very pleased, I’m honored to accept this award. I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would be happening to me in my life.”

                                     

Mike Tyson was the sixth inductee. He said, “I’m truly humbled by this moment right now, and happy to be here, and happy to be with my friend, Mr. Sulaiman, who I’ve known since I was a little boy. I’m just a simple guy, I’ve just been blessed with a lot of gifts and a lot of chances in life. I never had nothing. Jose Napoles, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, all these guys, this is what I’m about. It’s so ironic, because once I stopped fighting, I didn’t know how to be anyone, I didn’t know how to be a human being because my whole life was focused on fighting. That’s all I ever wanted to be – a world champion. That’s all I knew how to be, and I’m just gifted to be here. I’m like a little girl with a crush on a bunch of football players – this is just what is it with me. This is what I’m all about. The greatest fighters in the world, and I’m in the midst of them, and they think I’m somebody special. That’s big to me!”

                                    

Ray Leonard, the seventh inductee, said, “I can’t put into words how incredibly happy I feel being a part of such an incredible organization, team, family like the WBC. Jose, always - God bless you. You know, I have so many fond memories of trying to be somebody. To reiterate on what Mike was saying, I could never envision myself being in this position. All I knew in life as a kid was that I wanted to be special and if I had a chance, I would work hard to be that individual. Of all the sports that I could have participated in, boxing became a part of my life. I was a poor kid, I was a sad kid, introverted, but boxing was my safe haven. And in boxing, I could control the surroundings. So much has happened in my life, good, bad, ugly and indifferent, but you know what? When I’m with my boxing family, I feel at home. So thank you so much – God bless you all, and congratulations to all the champions.”

President Sulaiman said, “When Mike Tyson was a kid, he won his first title and I gave him his first championship belt. This is the first one – it had only two circles of flags. When he won it, he wore it the whole night going around the hotel, and the rest of the week. Somebody stole the belt from him, so on behalf of the WBC, I’m very proud to give it back. This represents the glories of your lifetime – you have it back.”

World champions and contenders in attendance at Monday morning’s opening ceremonies, in alphabetical order: Rosendo Alvarez, Saul Alvarez, Vito Antuofermo, Takahiro Aoh, Paul Banke, Iran Barkley, Sharif Bogere, Francois Botha, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Livingstone Bramble, Celestino Caballero, Randy Caballero, Miguel Callist, Hector Camacho, Francisco Javier Castillejo, Ruben Castillo, Jorge Castro, Isaac Chilemba, Miguel Cotto, Pipino Cuevas, Oscar de la Hoya, Tony DeMarco, Alexander Dimitrenko, Roberto Duran, Jeff Fenech, B.J. Flores, George Foreman, Giacobbe Fragomeni, Naoko Fujioka, Humberto Gonzalez, Jhonny Gonzalez, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Ricky Hatton, Thomas Hearns, Joe Hipp, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, Julian Jackson, Roy Jones Jr., Mariana Juarez, Zab Judah, Tomoki Kameda, Momo Koseki, Juan LaPorte, Donny Lalonde, Oscar Larios, James Leija, David Lemieux, Ray Leonard, Rafael Marquez, Christy Martin, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Mike McCallum, Milton McCrory, Wayne McCullough, Manuel Medina, Ray Mercer, Erik Morales, Jelena Mrdjenovich, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Jose Napoles, Jackie Nava, Azumah Nelson, Toshiaki Nishioka, Terry Norris, Ken Norton, Ajose Olusegun, Carlos Ortiz, Carlos Palomino, Jean Pascal, Vinny Pazienza, Edwin Rodriguez, Marco Antonio Rubio, Salvador Sanchez II, Laura Serrano, Earnie Shavers, Humberto Soto, Leon Spinks, Mia St. John, John Stracey, Ismayl Sillakh, George Tahdooahnippah, Naomi Togashi, Scott Welch, Chauncey Welliver, Krzystof Wlodcarczyk, Winky Wright, Shinsuke Yamanaka, Daniel Zaragoza, Carlos Zarate.
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The 49th Annual World Boxing Council Convention
Opens in Las Vegas

December 12, 2011 – Las Vegas
The 49th annual World Boxing Council convention opened this morning at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. A huge crowd was in attendance - estimated at 1,200 - and included around 90 former or current world champions and 70 promoters from all around the world.

The emcees for the opening ceremonies were Jimmy Lennon Jr. and Colonel Bob Sheridan. The masters of ceremonies were WBC Executive Director Mauricio Sulaiman of Mexico and Special Legal Counsel to the WBC Board of Governors Robert Lenhardt of the United States.

Former heavyweight world champion George Foreman addressed the morning assembly and said, “I’m so happy to be with you, and I’m so happy to be with all the great champions of the past and the future, but most importantly, I wouldn’t have made this trip - because I’ve got enough money I can just sit home and eat beans and rice - but because of the great Mr. Jose Suliaman. He invited me and I could not resist.

“I can remember, it was 40 years ago or thereabouts, when I was invited to just sit in at this most humble meeting at that point. And as I sat there, I was asking just for a chance to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. I didn’t have a powerful promoter, all I had was just this meager manager named Dick Saddler, and Mr Sulaiman stood up and said, ‘Look, the rematch can happen with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but we’re going to give you, Joe Frazier, so many hours to make a match with George Foreman. And I got my chance to become heavyweight champion of the world because this humble man held this humble position.

“Since then, you hear them talk about ‘alphabet’ championships, but this is no alphabet – this is most powerful and the most gracious and humble, with integrity, the WBC. I want to thank you for coming out and supporting this great man, Mr. Sulaiman. He speaks from his heart, and he’s got a son to follow right behind him. God bless him.”

In his annual opening speech, President Sulaiman said, “All of the WBC people know me well and they know that I improvise, so whatever speech that I wrote might not be good.

“First, I would like to address and give my thanks to the Board of Governors, to the dear friends of mine that came from all over the world, and I would like to give my heart to the biggest heroes that I have had in my life – the WBC champions. I don’t know how to pay you, only with my heart, for you being with the WBC at this time.

“I remember George Foreman many years ago when he was a kid, after winning the gold medal of the Olympic Games, jumping into the ring with the United States flag, when at those Olympics many went with black gloves. When they didn’t want to give him an opportunity for the title and we had to give Joe Frazier, God rest his soul, 48 hours to sign a fight with George Foreman in Jamaica.

“I remember Sugar Ray Leonard when he won the first championship in the welterweight division against Benitez. I went in the ring to present him his green belt, and he looked at me and said, ‘I’m taller than you.’

“I remember Larry Holmes when, after beating Ken Norton, he went into the swimming pool at the Hilton Hotel with his robe, his trunks, his shoes, and his belt.

“I remember Carlos Monzon when in Paris, took the antidoping test and the report of the laboratory was that it was champagne.

“I remember Cuyo Hernandez, one of my greatest mentors, pushing one of his fighters on the scale so he would make the weight. Nobody saw, but one of the photographers took the photo.

“There are so many incidents in my life with all of them that when I see their faces, they make me smile and enjoy and be very proud, because they are boxing. They are the kings of boxing - nobody but boxers. They are my devotion and my life.

“The worst moment in my life, but that showed the type of organization that is the WBC, is when I could not sleep all night because I had to strip Muhammad Ali from his championship because they broke the rules to fight Ken Norton in his fight against Leon Spinks. That was the saddest moment of my life because Ali has been a dear brother of mine.

“I am very happy that this convention is in Nevada because in Nevada, we have had many, many close relations. Nevada was a founder of the WBC in 1963, with Jim Deskin, God bless his soul. Nevada had also in the WBC several vice-presidents. The first one was Jim Deskin himself, then Sig Rigich and John Davis. We are very happy because we have had 274 championship fights in the state of Nevada. We have had 166 regional and final elimination fights, to make a total of eight fights of the WBC every year for 49 years, and that is history.

“The passing of my life through the sport of boxing is when I was a child and I had to fight in the hors d’oeurves fights to get in, because I didn’t have money to go the shows, and in five years I got a broken nose, a broken jaw, and I decided to go as a commissioner. I was not a good fighter.

“I hope that you understand that at my age, I have left behind many, many, many things in my life. The 36 years that I have been president - only last week – I don’t know where they went. They went away faster than the wind, but here I am.

“Do you believe that the WBC is going to hang up the gloves? The WBC is going to continue to fight. We have many, many things to do. The WBC has changed the world of boxing from a violent legalized sport with the rules of those days, to a most protective boxing of today.

“I remember Marvin Hagler saying, ‘Why in the world did you reduce the fights to 12 rounds?’ He never fought 15, so why was he protesting? He’s here.

“Yesterday, the Board of Governors approved to start by the month of May of next year, a World WBC Cup. We have 10 Continental Federations, and each champion of their division of those continental federations are going to fight for the title, and we are going to add the Silver Champions and WBC International champions. I believe that this is one of the greatest steps we are going to do for all those great people that are coming up and will be stars one of these days.

“The WBC has also implemented the WBC International Visa, because today it is a disgrace what is happening in the world - agents sending boxers that are sick, that have no authorization from their commissions, that have been suspended, sending a featherweight to fight against a welterweight. In this matter with the International Visa, no commission should allow any visiting fighter coming to fight if he does not present the documents so we can protect their health, and at the same time protect the public. We expect that the boxing commissions will follow this very important safety action.

“We also are implementing a medical web so that all the doctors of the world have a way to communicate with each other and know any physical problem that a visiting fighter might have.

“We also want to have the gloves examined, because many of the gloves that we have seen in the world do cause problems in the faces of the boxers. There are some that are so rough, and boxers use the stitches – they use whatever they can to try to win. But we want everybody to go in the ring, regardless of the brand, with a top-quality glove so we have no advantages.

“One of the most important things, and my only objective of the rest of my life, will be to bring a pension plan for retired boxers. We want to have the World Cup for that income to help in creating a world fund.

“I am at this convention also inviting all the promoters of the world to help the WBC by accepting to charge or donate one dollar for every fan that goes to any WBC fight in the world. With that amount and the amount of the World Cup, we will have a pension plan because boxers, unfortunately, believe that because they fought today, they can expect that they can win it in the next fight. Suddenly, the lights are off, no more fights, and they have to live with tears, just thinking of the glorious past, but have no way to live a decent life.

“Here, I would like to extend my deepest congratulations to Mexican humanitarian Carlos Slim, because he has just approved five more WBC world champions living in poverty, and he has 27 champions of the world with a life pension, and a life hospital assured for all of them. And that will be my work for all the former champions. We want them to come to the world with dignity. We want them not to come to the world talking to the walls, or cauliflower ears, or not being able to buy a Coke. The WBC promises to devote, as long as I’m the president, our very best efforts to be able to help the retired boxers. We owe that to them. They have been the glory of the sport. They have been the glory of many countries of the world. It is our obligation not to allow this to happen anymore.

“We have seen many unfair things happen in the ring. The referee is not a God. The referee can only do what he sees, but he does not see everything. We are not going to accept unfairness to continue. That’s why the WBC is implementing an instant video replay. With instant video replay, the WBC will have a way to find justice. Recently, my friend Chad Dawson pushed off Bernard Hopkins and pushed him to the canvas and he hurt his left elbow. Nobody believed it, but Hopkins’ report was that he had been hurt. The referee declared a knockout. The WBC declared it a technical draw. It is not fair that any world champion lose his title on a foul.

“We are also going to implement the announcement of the scores at the end of the fourth and the eighth rounds. Baseball scores runs, basketball scores baskets, football – touchdowns. Diving is immediately scored by the judges. Even gymnastics is immediately scored. Why should boxing continue being a mystery? How many losers would have won the fight if they would have known by the eighth round how they were going, or by the fourth round how they were going? I don’t believe that are many boxers in the world that would have not liked to know, because at the end of the fight, everybody thinks ‘I won,’ and they lose. Why this mystery? It is a mystery that we cannot accept anymore, because we do not know what’s behind. I never lose any trust of the judges. They are great people, but at least this offering - the knowledge - to the fans, and to the corners especially, will bring a new confidence to the world and respect.

“We also do not like what AIBA is doing in amateur boxing. They have no trust and no confidence anymore from the world of amateurs - no great champions, like those that are born at the Olympic Games in the past and became great as professionals. No more. And old men like me, being one of five, pushing a button when they see that somebody scored the punch - why, if one was sleeping, they didn’t punch it at the same time, so we have at the end of the fight, like a baseball game, 3 to 2. That’s ridiculous. We have to change that. And I’m going to see during the following year if the WBC can start a Golden Gloves all over the world. We need new heroes. We need new boxers. Now there are no tournaments in Latin America. They all have to go and play football instead of being boxers because there are no tournaments. The WBC wants to be very active also in amateurs.

“We also are thinking of a world tournament of preliminary fighters, four and six-rounders, because four and six-rounders only go to fight for peanuts. They win, they put the money in their pocket, they spend it in a month. If we have a tournament for the preliminary fighters, they will also have a championship in their minds - the pride that a championship is to a boxer.

“And we have many other things that the WBC is planning to do. One other thing that is a deep concern of mine – television and promoters want to control boxing. Now if a television company says, ‘I don’t want your challenger, you have to fight X.’ So they step on the international organizations. How can we hurt a boxer that is getting two million to fight with someone else, because the television did not accept the challenger? Also promoters – to me, boxing would not exist without promoters - promoters are very important for boxing. It’s about time that they buried their hatchets, that they stop swearing at each other, and that they start using everybody’s fighters, using for the best of boxing the best boxers to box. We want to try to sit down with the television also, to bring rule and order to the sport of boxing. The WBC cannot allow being handled and manuevered. To me, it’s over. If a champion does not want to give the WBC title, he’s free to go. But if he wants to stay, he has to realize that he’s the best champion in the world of his division, like all those that are here have been in their lives.

“In my life as President, I have learned many things. I like to read biographies and of the heroes of my life, I learn what made them succeed. For that, I have learned also my commitment to listen carefully to anyone that comes to see me for a meeting. The poor people have a problem as big for them as the biggest and most important promoter. To me, you all know that I am open and always willing to talk to everybody, because without you, there would not be boxing. If we commissioners and promoters, if we do not participate, there is no boxing. And for me, it’s very important to hear any opinion that anybody has.

“I have learned though my father and my mother that humility is the king of mankind. He who is arrogant is mediocre. Humility and simplicity are the best zeal of any human being. Look at the champions. They are followed by hundreds of people - pictures and signatures, pictures and signatures. They all are ready to do it always. Regardless if they get tired, they continue to try to be good to the people, because the people made them. Simplicity and humility are what I always recommend.

“In my life, I am not a fighter in the desert. You know me – I’m a warrior. It there’s someone who wants to attack the dignity and the honor of the WBC, they will find a fight. But in life, I like to prevent rather than to be sorry for doing something wrong. I always believe that every problem can be resolved. I always believe that there should be an intermediary to make both parties understand that they should fix the problems without wars.

“The WBC got away from the courts of justice of the United States by imposing in our rules the court of arbitration of sports that is in Switzerland. It’s much cheaper, it’s faster. So that has been the official organization that resolves the WBC’s problems.

“I cannot forget, I told my friends and we made a toast yesterday because of Rocchigiani. Rocchigiani was a good fighter, but he did not fight for the WBC title. He fought for another title, an interim title. And because we did not recognize that, because Roy Jones, I saw him here, was the champion. He did not resign his title of the WBC. But we had a New York judge – red color, brilliant blue eyes, that selected four red color, brilliant judges, and he decided that the WBC was to blame. Let me tell you, I like red color. And he decided that and he charged the WBC with 35 million dollars to pay to a boxer that was in a high prison, who let him out to come to the United States to court, with even his passport to travel to the United States. Arriving in New York, one year after the towers’ destruction, that was manuevered in Germany, as he was allowed in this country. Since the very beginning, the judge said, ‘I’m sorry, but I lived in Germany for five years and my wife was an opera singer, also from Germany.’ I told my lawyers, ‘Let’s go.’ They said, ‘No, no, no.’ The judge said 35 million dollars. What is that? Only Sugar Ray and George know what 35 millions dollars are. Finally we finished the problem, about $500,000 a year for several years, and we had the last payment for some very important amount and this thing is over. I hope that you will help us all not to fall into something like that in the future, because 30 boxers that lived in poverty stopped receiving a pension plan that the WBC was giving to them because we didn’t have the money.

“I have always accepted to be flexible in many cases, but the only matter for which I am not flexible is honor and dignity. I would not accept my honor and my dignity be stepped on, because that is absolutely unacceptable. I believe that it is exactly the same thoughts of all the members of the WBC.

“Having said all that, I would like to ask your forgiveness for remembering today is December the 12th, the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the day that multi-millions of Mexicans go to visit every year because she gives warmth, she gives peace, she gives hope.

“We have brought many different boxing titles because today everybody wants to promote a 12 round fight. No TV company that I know would support boxing if it did not have 12 rounds. In history, many, many of the boxers have had to fight for money only and nothing else. The WBC created a WBC Muay Thai, which has been very successful, and a WBC Youth World Championship for those not older than 22 years. We have created the Latino, the Americas, the Mediterranean titles, and those are functioning very well. I would like to congratulate all the chairmen of those regional titles who have worked so hard.

“My life has been a life of dreams. When I was a kid, I used to dream that I had an accident so the beautiful lady I liked would feel sad for me and come and caress me. I used to dream that I was fighting Muhammad Ali, and I would knock him out. I would dream about the beautiful girls that I have met in my life, with my excuses to my sons, and my life has been a dream life. I am sure that all the people here are also dreamers. Who of the boxers, when they start, do not dream of becoming champions of the world? What I recommend is never stop dreaming. To the last day of our life, we must continue dreaming, because dreaming makes happiness. Dreaming makes you get off of the chair to fight. Dreaming is the best thing that you can do. It’s a picture in your mind for everything that you want to accomplish. And that’s one of the things that I would like to leave as a message, and very especially to my champions - very especially to all of you - because you’ve been the greatest. One day it was dark. Your greatness is gone, but you have to dream, that your greatness remains in your mind and you continue being champions of the world to the last day of your life.

“I believe also that a leader is committed to the service of others, very especially those people that need it. And you should be of service without ever expecting anything in return. When you do something for others, that’s your satisfaction. That’s your payment, because you should serve other people and not yourself.

“I’m very sorry for the translators, because everything I said, I didn’t follow my script - it came from my heart.

“But I would like to end by saying that boxing has become a sport of gossip, abuse, of bitterness, envy, and unfortunately, I had it many times. If a boxer doesn’t do something, the promoter gets mad. And if the WBC cannot support it, we get everything that he’s been through. It has been my great honor in my life to help everybody if I don’t hurt a third party. If Muhammad Ali and Leon Spinks would have not been hurting Ken Norton, I would not have voted with the WBC to strip Muhammad Ali. How could I do that? But they were hurting Ken Norton. And Ken Norton had a commitment from Ali and Spinks that the winner would fight him, and they didn’t. I could not break the rules, and I could not be unfair to the man who was waiting for his opportunity, and it was not given to him.

“George Foreman came to the WBC convention in Las Vegas many years ago. He wanted the rematch with Muhammad Ali. I didn’t know Muhammad Ali at the time very well, but we sat down to talk and he was very nice to George Foreman. His mind – ‘Oh, okay. I’ll make one voluntary defense and them I’ll fight old George.’ There is not a way that we should break the rules to hurt other people. If you don’t hurt anybody, then you have to help. That has been my commitment.

“I’m sorry for the length of my speech. I let go by my heart, and I didn’t read what I have taken about a week to write. But let me tell you, you cannot imagine the happiness that I have when I see every face that comes to say ‘hello’ to me. Because every one of you have been part of boxing, and have been part of my life.

“And about the boxers, my heroes, every time that I see the face of everyone, a memory comes to me, because they all have many memories. They all have gone through many good things, and not so many good things in life.

“I have made many mistakes as President - I’m a human being. But I assure you that all of them have been in good faith. And I do apologize for those mistakes to all the people who I might have hurt during my time. I just pray, and thank God for all this enormity of delegates and champions, and writers and promoters who are at this convention.

“Whatever God gives me for my life, I will keep devoting it with my profound love for this sport that is in my blood since I was born. I thank you so much, and I ask God to help you and protect always my champions. Thank you.”

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 WBC Partial Open Scoring a Must for the Future of Boxing

(November 15th) From the office of WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán:             The World Boxing Council has enjoyed great success with open scoring throughout the world. The announcement of the judges’ official scores after the end of the fourth and eighth rounds has been a great rule which has been used in many countries.

This topic will be one of the priorities to be discussed during the WBC Annual Convention, which will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from December 11-17, as we believe that all of those countries or local boxing commissions that do not accept the use of this rule should thoroughly evaluate its great benefits, which have been proven since its implementation in 2006.

Announcing the score after the fourth and eighth rounds gives the fans in the arena, those watching on television, and most importantly the boxers themselves the opportunity to know how they stand in the fight in order to adjust their strategy and efforts.

There has not been one single negative incident in these five years. To the contrary, the performances of both boxers after the eighth round has been much better.

“I love the rule. We, as fighters, want to know what the judges are scoring.” - Lennox Lewis.

“Boxing is the only sport in which the athlete is completely unaware of the score. It is a great rule.” - Erik Morales.

“This rule gives much needed transparency in scoring, and I fully support it.” - Toshiaki Nishioka.