Boxing Legend Jose Sulaiman, Controversial WBC Boss, Dies At 82
Boxing legend Jose Sulaiman made his impact on the sport not with his fists, but his iron hand. That’s what he used to rule the sport’s most influential governing bodiy, the World Boxing Council, for almost four decades.
The Mexican-born president of the WBC, first elevated to that position in 1975, died Thursday at University of California Los Angeles Medical Center where had been hospitalized for several months with a heart condition, according to the Associated Press.
While boxing fans have complained for decades about the dilution of the sport’s championships by the prevalence of “alphabet” organizations such as the WBC and its rivals the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation — and others — the Mexico-based WBC’s “green belt” was always the most respected by boxers.
But as his power grew, Sulaiman was often criticized, particularly for his close relationship with promoter Don King — another highly controversial figure in boxing — and for deciding which boxers could compete for the WBC belt based more on his personal whims and relationships than on any objective measure of boxing ability, according to ESPN boxing correspondent Dan Rafael.
Nonetheless, a former fighter himself, Sulaiman was beloved by many of the top names in boxing, some of whom paid tribute to the WBC “president for life” today.
Very sad to hear about the passing of my longtime friend and President of the WBC José Sulaimán. Prayers go out from my family to his. #RIP
— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) January 17, 2014
R.I.P Jose Sulaiman a Friend and I’m happy to have held your WBC World Tittle Belt. #WBC #Greenbelt #RIP http://t.co/1xbUjpJ0g6
— ZAB JUDAH 5x Champ! (@SUPERJUDAH) January 17, 2014
My prayers go out to the family of Jose Sulaiman. He was very kind to me. God bless you all.
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) January 17, 2014
Among the innovations that Sulaiman brought to boxing were several significant measures aimed at increasing fighter safety. After the 1983 death in the ring of Korean boxer Deuk Koo Kim after a brutal, 15-round title fight against lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom”Mancini, Sulaiman led what became a successful push to shorten title fights from a maximum of 15 rounds to 12.
When the WBC instituted the change, the other governing bodies did the same. Today and since the mid-1980s, all title bouts in boxing last no more than 12 rounds.
Sulaiman also lobbied to move fighter weigh-ins from the day of a fight to the previous day. Knowing that most fighters underwent dehydration to make their required weights, Sulaiman believed that giving boxers an extra 24 hours to regain their lost fluid weight would prevent them from entering the ring in a dangerously weakened state.
Sulaiman was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.
