Mauricio Sulaiman, World Boxing Council President Vows to Continue his Father’s Legacy

Mauricio Sulaiman, President WBC / Picture Courtesy of wbc.com

By Francisco Romero. – In February of 2014, a month after the World Boxing Council (WBC) longtime president, Jose Sulaiman passed away at the age of 82, his son Mauricio was elected President of the WBC.

Jose Sulaiman held that post since 1975 and it was a natural fit for his son to be voted into the presidency of the entity as he had been working with his father in the boxing industry since his youth.

At 45, almost a year-and-a-half after taking over the reigns of the WBC, Mauricio is working hard at continuing the legacy that his father left in the boxing world.

“My father left a great legacy in this (boxing) sport,” Mauricio told us during an exclusive interview.  “I pride myself in working as hard as my father did for the good of the sport.”

The Elder Sulaiman was known for his efforts in implementing rules and regulations focused on the safety of the boxers such as: 

• Reducing championship fights from 15 to 12 rounds
• Switching official weigh-ins from the morning of a fight to the day before to provide time for fighters to rehydrate
• Instituting gloves with thumbs attached
• Implementing mandatory anti-doping tests
• Establishing life and hospitalization insurance for boxers
• Founding 30- and 7-day advance weigh-ins to prevent dehydration and crash dieting
• Adding a fourth tier to the ring rope to reduce falls
• Funding medical research at the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center
• Creating the Friendly Hand Benevolent Foundation and the Boxer’s Pension Fund to support indigent ex-boxers and their families

“We have a very solid organization and we want to maintain it this this way while continuing with my father’s ideals,” Mauricio told us.  “I worked very close with my father and I watched the way he worked and it has helped me tremendously in leading the same team.”

Mauricio’s emotions take over while talking about his father and the WBC, “I have had mixed feelings ever since I took over the organization,” said Mauricio. “On one hand I feel very proud of what we have been able to accomplish in the time I have been president, on the other hand I want to do my job the right way, do it with honesty for the good of boxing and the way my father did his job.”

In continuing his father’s work, Mauricio is also focused on the safety of the boxers.

“We have taken the doping issue very seriously,” said Mauricio.  “Currently there is a world trend of competitive advantage and the use of banned substances to achieve it.  Human growth hormones have become very popular and sometimes athletes and boxers experiment with this stuff without knowing the secondary effects and without being administered by a medical professional,” he added.

The WBC is working and developing educational plans to implement at all levels of the sport, “We want to make sure everyone around the sport of boxing is aware of the short and long term effects of this substances, which ones are legal, which ones are illegal, we want our members to be well-educated in this issue,” said Mauricio.

The WBC has been at the forefront of the doping issue for years now, as they have developed a relationship with UCLA medical research as well as brain injury research with the educational institution. 

The WBC is also working with other professional sports such as the NFL in sharing medical information for the benefit of the athletes.

Nicky Perez, a four-time NABF champion applauds the work that Mauricio Sulaiman has done so far.

Perez, from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, would like to see the WBC get involved a bit more in amateur boxing in Mexico, “We need our young boxers to have more amateur fights,” said Perez.  “Some of the young boxers in Mexico jump to professional fighting right away because they need an income, but are not ready to go pro.”

“To me, it would be ideal to develop our amateur fighters and get them ready to have a successful pro career, but we need the WBC to help support their efforts,” added Perez.

On that front, the WBC has partnered with Sports City Gyms around Mexico to have youth train there and promote the sport.

“Boxing is a beautiful sport,” said Sulaiman. “We want our sport to be available for our youth, not only on a competitive basis, because it is a sport that helps our communities in regards to crime prevention, obesity, keeping our youth healthy, the benefits of boxing are huge,” added Mauricio.

Mauricio and his father Joe Sulaiman / Picture Courtesy of wbc.com

The WBC has 165 affiliated countries and it promotes the sport through social media around the world.

Other projects that Mauricio Sulaiman and the WBC are working on very diligently are the following: 

• Promotion, enhancing and development of women’s boxing around the world
• Boxing in the armed forcers (USA)
• Promoting boxing and training in partnership with police entities
• Continued development, promotion and well-being of boxers around the world

“We are currently going through a great moment in our sport,” Mauricio told us.

“The era of boxers such as Mayweather, Marquez, Barrera, Morales, is turning the page and welcoming a new set of future stars.”

Who should we keep an eye for? We asked Mauricio.  “Oh there is great talent coming up,” he said.  “Leo Santa Cruz and Francisco “el Bandido” Vargas are already here, but you better watch out for David Haney, he is only 16, but a star in the making.”

While we look out for the up and coming talent let’s also keep an eye on the great work the WBC is doing around the world and it’s current star at the forefront of one of the most important boxing entities around the world, Mauricio Sulaiman.

His father’s shoes may be too big to fill, but he is getting there!