By Mauricio Sulaimán – President of the WBC – Son of José Sulaimán
Finally, I made the decision to make one last stop before returning to my beloved Mexico after a long trip which included London, Riyadh, Turkey, Italy and Croatia. I flew from Rome to New York to attend a magnificent boxing card promoted by Golden Boy with The Ring and many of the world’s leading boxing promoters, namely PBC, TGB, Matchroom, and Queensberry.
New York has deep and abiding boxing tradition; the audience is knowledgeable and arrives early to watch the fights. A unique atmosphere is present and power punches are cheered like nowhere else in the world with a unique awe noise.
This event, organized by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, was held at the legendary Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, where the famous US Open tennis tournament is played. It welcomed our sport for the first time, and I really liked it. All the seats offer good vantage points, and you can feel the audience thrill during the bouts.
We had three WBC fights. In the first, Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matías defeated the now former champion from the Dominican Republic, Alberto Puello, by majority decision in a very close and high-level fight with an enormous number of punches thrown and landed.Now, Matías must fight the mandatory against England’s Dalton Smith, who is precisely visiting us at “Martes de Café” as a sign of respect for the WBC.
In the second title fight, Shakur Stevenson won by unanimous decision against Mexico’s William “Camarón” Zepeda, who stepped into the ring as interim champion. The decision was correct; Shakur did win, but the scores left a very bad taste: 119-109 and 118-110 twice. This in no way reflects the great effort and memorable fight Zepeda gave, as he pressed forward and landed punches. Shakur proved himself a subtle, durable and adaptable ring great,a Super Star while “Camarón” showed he has the makings of a champion and will surely be back very soon. It was a great fight.
In the main event, England’s Hamzah Sheeraz demolished Puerto Rico’s Edgar Berlanga with a spectacular knockout in four rounds, thus earning the position of official challenger to fight Christian Mbilli, the WBC interim super middleweight champion. Sheeraz had previously drawn against the world middleweight champion, the great Dominican Carlos Adames.
I had a very productive conversation with HE Turki Alalshikh, where we agreed on a series of important programs for the rest of 2025 and for 2026. He expressed his great satisfaction and pride in how the Riyadh Season WBC Boxing Grand Prix has been turning out, and confirmed his presence at the Quarter finals, which will take place this upcoming August 13th in Saudi Arabia.
On Friday night, there was also great boxing activity in the city that never sleeps, New York. Most Valuable Promotions headlined a historic card that featured only women’s boxing matches.An historic event was that five WBC world championship fights were held to a packed house at the legendary Madison Square Garden.
Our champion Yamileth Mercado lost her WBC world belt to Australia’s Ellie Scotney. Katie Taylor won her third bout against Amanda Serrano, definitively closing this great rivalry with a conclusive unanimous decision.Alycia Baumgardner retained the undisputed super featherweight championship after defeating Spain’s Jennifer Miranda. Australia’s Cherneka Johnson took the fight with only two weeks’ notice and surprised the world with her performance, being crowned bantamweight champion by defeating Shurretta Metcalf. Chantelle Cameron retained the WBC interim super lightweight title after authoritatively defeating Canada’s Jessica Camara in a key fight to stay in the elite.
DID YOU KNOW…?
A couple of years ago, I met Subriel Matías, a fighter from Puerto Rico who spoke to me with such respect and admiration for the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the memory of my father, Don José Sulaimán, and expressed that his dream had always been to win the Green and Gold…
I was so moved that I gave him a WBC medal and told him that one day I would put the world champion belt on him. This happened this Saturday, and it was Subriel who reminded me of this story with tears of joy.
Today’s Anecdote
New York was one of my father’s favorite cities, and each of his children had memorable moments there with him. His favorite hotel was the Parker Meridien, directly across from Central Park, where he would go for morning runs.
He loved the cold and snow, visiting Rockefeller Plaza to watch people ice skate while drinking hot chocolate next to the gigantic Christmas tree, in addition to his favorite restaurants: The Palm, Tse Yang, and Tavern on the Green, the places where unforgettable lunches and dinners were held with Don King, Ali, Tyson, Don Majeski, Jill Diamond, and so many more.
One spectacular meal was at the famous Victor’s Café with Panama’s Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Durán, who was his favorite.
It was precisely in this city that he met someone who is now a very successful boxing manager and promoter, but who at the time was a salesman in a camera and electronics store. He was so promising with so much potential, that Don José suggested he get into boxing; that’s how the great and irrepressible Sampson Lewkowicz came to our sport.
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