MR PRESIDENT
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman tells Matt Christie about the health scare that changed his life and the challenges of running the sport’s most famous sanctioning body
Mauricio Sulaiman on the daily challenges of running the famous WBC
MAURICIO SULAIMAN has been head of the World Boxing Council for five years, following the death of his father, Jose, in January 2014. The proud 48-year-old Mexican is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in boxing, a sport he clearly holds close to his heart. But with such power comes great pressure, as he discovered in the worst possible way last summer.
You had a very serious health scare last year.
In July, I had a ventricular crisis. I was about to leave to go on vacation with my wife and my three kids to Europe, we were flying to London. While I was at the airport, the pain and my temperature was extremely high and the doctors told me not to get on the plane. Thank god for the temperature because if it was just pain I probably would have got on the flight. I went into emergency surgery and there were tremendous complications. In the end I was in hospital for 20 days.
How serious was it?
I was close to death. I spoke to the doctors after the surgery and if I had got on the flight, they said I most probably would not have survived. My temperature was 104 degrees, my heart rate was 150, as if I was running a marathon. The infection had burst inside of me; I was very ill during the first hour of the operation. From there, I changed my way of living which resulting in exercising. I was a very good athlete until my 20s, and I have rediscovered a healthy way of living. I have changed my day-to-day, I have stopped the abuse I used to give to my body
and now I have a very healthy life.
How difficult was that transition?
It has been difficult at times but extremely satisfactory in most cases. I abused my body travelling too much; taking flights early in the morning, late at night, working extremely hard and as a result my eating habits were very wrong. I would go without eating for many hours and then I would always eat out.
In boxing, when you have a job like mine, everywhere you go life is round a table. If you go to the UK, you have to attend meetings and everything is about lunch and dinner. Food is a natural way of showing hospitality. The flights take a big toll on your body and you don’t realise you’re hurting yourself. I had to lose weight to have a second operation, and I lost the weight I needed to lose.
I have now lost 35 kilos. I feel healthier than I have for 25 years.
This must have created an upheaval of your working life.
I have had to reorganise everything like my team, my staff, my committees in order to delegate so we all work together to achieve the goals. I have got to understand that I can’t attend every single event. I believe I’m on the right track. I will still travel when it is necessary.
Now you are not travelling all the time, worrying about getting from A to B and back again, have you found that you have more time to focus purely on the management of the WBC?
It has helped me become more efficient. If you’re spending all your time travelling you cannot be efficient, you don’t have that time to work on strategies. What do you call those people who chop down trees?
A lumberjack?
Yes, a lumberjack. If you’re a lumberjack and you go out with your axe and you keep swinging, you will get down one, two, three trees. But the lumberjack must take time to sharpen the axe. If you don’t, you are working harder and harder and taking more time to reach your goal than if you stopped and ensured your tools were at their best.
Now, I am less stressed, I am channelling the priorities and I have so many unbelievable friends who have helped me achieve this. They have been empowered to do work that I used to do on my own.
What has this whole episode taught you?
It is very dangerous. I must not lose sight of my health, that must always be the priority. I now have a new respect for people who have suffered with their health and fallen on hard times.
I never meant to fall into such an unhealthy life, I meant to work hard and be a positive and honourable person but I hurt myself and my family horribly by doing so. Others have fallen into addictions and come out the other side. For example, Julio Cesar Chavez has been 10 years completely sober and when I see him going to public appearances, there are so many temptations every day and it is not easy to resist them. You have to be strong and retain that focus.
I went to Las Vegas in September for the Gennady Golovkin-canelo Alvarez rematch, two months after my first operation. After so many years of being in Las Vegas that same atmosphere surrounds you but my greatest satisfaction was resisting those temptations and going to bed and looking forward to six or seven in the morning so I could go out and walk.
Now when I go to cities, like London and Kiev, I walk and I see the cities in a much better way. From just seeing restaurants and hotel rooms, I now see life around me. It has been very gratifying.
That’s great to hear. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask you some questions about some less uplifting subjects. Like boxing politics. Of course.
How frustrating was the news from Tyson Fury that, after signing with ESPN, he will not pursue the rematch with Deontay Wilder at this stage?
I FEEL HUMILIATED AND DECEIVED THAT THE WILDER-FURY REMATCH IS NOT HAPPENING”
Very frustrating. I’m disappointed. I feel a little bit humiliated and deceived because after the first fight Tyson Fury, he asked for the rematch. His promoters and managers asked for the rematch. Wilder asked for the rematch. It was such a big story. There was a lot of animosity between them before the fight then they went out and performed the way they did. Afterwards, they showed tremendous sportsmanship. It was all a great story; Tyson Fury came back, changed his life around, performed like that against all odds, it was motivational. So we mandated the rematch. For three months we were told there was going to be a rematch, that things were moving along and just minor details needed to be resolved. And then the fight is off. So, of course it’s frustrating but it’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last.
The heavyweight division has tremendous potential but it’s up to the promoters and the representatives who have the careers of the fighters in their hands to give the fans the fights they want to see.
Who do you blame for the breakdown?
I would be irresponsible to blame one particular person or team for the situation. I am not privileged to the information that explains why the plans changed. But I do have to say I have tremendous respect for Deontay Wilder. He accepted our rulings when we imposed the rematch and he was happy to take it. Up until Tuesday (February 26), he confirmed to us that his only plan, his only desire, his only commitment was the rematch. Then we hear that Fury will not go ahead with it. My respect is with Wilder; he has been the victim of these circumstances all along.
When he flew to Russia [in 2016] he was ready to defend his title against Alexander Povetkin. One week before the fight there are averse findings in Povetkin’s drug test and the fight is off. The same thing happened when he was originally going to fight Luis Ortiz.
Last year he was very clear with us that he wanted to fight Anthony Joshua and we supported that. Wilder was completely ready for that fight. He is willing to fight the best and I’m proud of him for that. He’s been champion for five years and he’s defended the title eight times.
In that regard, why did you create the WBC Interim heavyweight championship for a proposed fight between Dillian Whyte and Dominic Breazeale just two months after Wilder had defended the real title? I know your thoughts on the WBA’S many titles so I was surprised you made this move.
It was a ruling in order to make the best fights. When we mandated the rematch between Wilder and Fury, that was to make the fight everyone wanted. Last year, our mandatory heavyweight contender, Dominic Breazeale, accepted our wishes to make Wilder-joshua. He waited and waited. Then we accepted Wilder-fury and Breazeale accepted it. Then we order a rematch and Breazeale was still standing there. Also, Dillian Whyte has been extremely loyal to the WBC, he stated he wanted to fight for the green belt. So when we thought Wilder-fury II was going ahead, we ruled to have an interim championship to give Breazeale and Whyte the chance to win a title and leave the winner a bigger share of the purse when they fought the champion. The news was taken very positively by the public.
We have done this before at middleweight with Jermall Charlo after we ordered the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin. It meant that Charlo had a title and a better percentage when the time comes to fight for the WBC title. At bantamweight and super-bantamweight we have Interim champions who will now be fighting the WBC champions.
This is not, and cannot, be compared to the practices of other organisations.
But do you see how it can? It’s the creation of a needless title despite the real title being active. I know you have the fighters’ best interests at heart - there should be no disputing that - but would it not be easier to get something in a contract rather than creating more titles?
I believe if the process is explained correctly to the fans, it will be understood. If we were doing this for any other reason – to give the best possible fight to the fans – I would understand your point. And I still understand and accept any criticism that may come. But our priority is boxing and the boxers. I feel very comfortable with this ruling but it’s now in jeopardy because there is no Wilder-fury rematch. We have communicated with Wilder and he’s going to get back to us so we can put it to the board of governors so we can have a ruling regarding the heavyweight division. If anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this kind of situation, I will be more than happy to listen, to discuss and, potentially, even implement. The WBC have changed the rulings of boxing throughout history for the betterment of the sport – many of these came from ideas from commissioners, from boxers, from fans, from the media.
So the WBC now don’t need an Interim title fight at heavyweight?
We still have to go through the process and get all the exact information. We will make a ruling very soon.
At your annual convention, you invite fighters and their teams to dispute the WBC ratings and campaign for higher placings. Is that a successful system?
WHEN A PROMOTER IS NOT WILLING FOR THE EXTRA EXPENSE OF DRUG TESTING IT CAN BECOME DIFFICULT”
I have tremendous confidence in the system and in the WBC ratings committee. As you have seen in person, we have members from all over the world who participate every single day. They send reports, results and evaluations that make up the monthly ratings. We have an eight-day process to collate the ratings. Once a year at the convention we give any interested party an open floor to put down their case in front of the board. So it’s very transparent, it’s very clean, there is nothing behind closed doors. The ratings are a very complicated process. There are ‘popularity’ ratings and ‘workable’ ratings. To be clear, our ratings include only fighters who are eligible to be fight for the WBC title which is why champions from other organisations are removed but are listed as champions from other organisations. Same with challengers who are contracted to fight for other titles. They are not in the ratings because they may have commitments with other organisations.
This may bring some confusion to the fans but they have to understand that we only rank fighters who are eligible to fight for the championship. There is so much criteria to evaluate before we put our rankings together. Of course we have made mistakes or we have left out some talent in lower placings but I am very confident in our rankings system.
I was impressed by the transparency of the procedure. However, I was surprised, in December 2017, when representatives of Jessie Vargas made their case and told the committee about his charity work within his local community. He was subsequently moved up the welterweight rankings by three or four places.
Every promoter or manager is like a salesman. You do your best job to sell your product, figuratively speaking. But in response to Vargas, he is a former champion, he had been competitive with Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, he has many wins against top opposition. He is one of the world’s best welterweights.
I can’t recall the exact discussion you mention but I have heard everything in ratings discussions. Promoters will make their cases and I’m not sure if it was only Vargas’ charity work that was mentioned but I can assure you that our rankings are not based on philosophical stories. I guarantee the committee would not rule solely on charity work.
Have you ever considered including champions from other organisations in your rankings in an effort to ensure unification bouts occur?
It might be popular to do that, but this is not a popularity contest. It’s not practical. Say we list Anthony Joshua at No.1 at heavyweight and then we demand that he challenge Wilder. But he might say, ‘No, I have my commitments with the other organisations’. So what do we do then? Move Joshua down? It would cause confusion. We have invited other organisations to join us in a tournament of champions where the champions fight each other but they have refused. We try and do our best to bring the best together, but every promoter is independent, every network is independent.
How often are the boxers tested in the WBC Clean Boxing Program?
There are two types of testing. There is the 365day, 24-7 random testing. Then there are fights that are contracted to do out of competition and after the fight testing. It’s complicated but it’s robust. We do around 15-20 tests every month all over the world. The more fighters that are tested, the better.
Has it been difficult to get all fighters and promoters signed up?
Most of them are willing to enrol and most demand to be tested. They want to prove they are clean. We have had very few cases of fighters who reject enrolment and then have to be removed from the rankings. The testing has no cost for the fighters. In the random testing, the WBC pays 100 per cent. When fights are contracted to have drug testing some are subsidised by the WBC and some are paid by the promoters who contract the services for the specific fight. But of course it comes down to economics. When a promoter is not willing to have extra testing and extra expenses then it becomes difficult. There are fights when we demand the extra testing as part of that fight. Overall, the doping situation is far better than many other sports but we’re just at the start. The sport has so much more to do.
The word corruption is thrown around following every contentious decision. You once told me corruption in boxing is a myth. Do you still believe that?
I feel confident in saying yes. I have been involved in the sport since I was a little kid and I have never witnessed an act of corruption. There might be incompetence, there might be a bad performance by an official, but we all have bad days in our life. But corruption is a very powerful word, especially when you are hiding behind an anomaly.
So you have never had a promoter representing a fighter, or anyone representing a fighter, come to you with money or favours in return for help for their fighter?
None whatsoever. I have had naïve attempts at friendship, to try and be hospitable or to give a gift. I have never accepted it.
On the contrary, we are always giving hospitable reception to promoters and managers and fighters and everybody, but I have never experienced an act of corruption. Never.
I HAVE BEEN IN THE SPORT SINCE I WAS A LITTLE KID AND I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED AN ACT OF CORRUPTION”