Round 12: Behind the WBC Boxing Grand Prix

By Mauricio Sulaimán – WBC President – Son of José Sulaimán

The Riyadh Season WBC Boxing Grand Prix has been a complete success, and the anticipation is growing, as the semifinal stage approaches, scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 19.

It all began when, in a meeting at the beginning of 2024, I shared Don José’s dream—the professional Boxing World Cup—with His Excellency  Turki Alalshick. After a series of meetings to review the concept, the project, and the requirements, he gave the green light to proceed with the first tournament of its kind in the history of our sport.

The work has been titanic, with great coordination among the different teams. Medical services have been handled by the international agency NAS, led by Dr. Neil Scott (from England), while technical-boxing administration has been in the hands of the U.S. agency International Boxing & MMA Consultants, with Joel Campuzano at the head of his magnificent team of commissioners, technicians, and inspectors.

Vic Cutman and his team have been  in charge of corner attention for treating cuts. All the logistics for travel, hotels, production, and transportation have been handled by the local company SELA, with Dr. Rakan as the chief. DAZN has managed the television production, doing a great job to generate an image of the highest quality level, and, of course, our World Boxing Council team has been in charge of the execution, supervision, and administration of the event in its entirety.

To transform a conceptual idea into reality required countless meetings, long journeys and dedication from many.

The first step was to launch the worldwide call for registration: featherweight, super lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight boxers, maximum age of 26, and with no more than 15 professional fights.

Our central office staff received more than a thousand registration applications, and after the first filtration process, the package was sent to the WBC Ratings committee, which, after long meetings, produced the lists for each division and their corresponding rankings.

Once the 32 + 4 boxers per division were selected (144 in total), we proceeded to contact them all to initiate the initial registration. The most important and laborious task was to obtain their medical clearance for NAS Medical to give the go-ahead to each one.

It’s worth noting that the vast majority are independent, without a manager or promoter, and achieving the successful registration of all of them was incredible.

Initially, it had been agreed that the stages would take place in different countries: the initial stage in Miami or Mexico City, the next two in Europe or England, and the semifinal and final in Saudi Arabia. Everything changed in a meeting at the beginning of the year, where His Excellency  requested that all five stages be held in his country.

The next major challenge was booking airline tickets, one by one, for more than 400 people, including boxers and their coaches, medical services, VADA anti-doping service, judges, referees, supervisors, inspectors, DAZN technicians, and the entire Council technical and operations team, as well as people from 55 countries, who also required an entry visa to the  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .

On arrival day, we proceeded with the weigh-in, medical examination, license check, uniform delivery, rules reading, and eventually the fights. In the first stage, we had 64 bouts, 16 daily in eight-hour shifts.

After the last fight, there was an explosion of joy, and all the teams got into the ring to celebrate the success achieved, with tears and laughter upon seeing that the dream had been accomplished, exceeding expectations. The boxing level was spectacular, the fights were very competitive and dramatic, and the life stories are worthy of Hollywood movies.

Grand Prix Numbers

• 140 fights held
• 98 decisions
• 42 knockouts
• 40 different judges and referees have officiated
• 0 fights stopped due to cuts
• 112 anti-doping tests
• 28 actions reviewed by instant replay
• 51 thousand miles traveled by me in three trips from CDMX to Riyadh
• 198 hours of travel time

Semifinal Schedule

• Featherweight: Yoni Valverde (16-0-0, 3 KOS – FRANCIE)  vs. Muhamet Qamili (16-0-1, 7 KOS – ALBANIA) and Brandon Mejía (11-0-0, 9 KOS – MEXICO) vs. Bekizizwe Maitse (8-1-1, 3 KOS – SOUTH AFRICA).
• Super Lightweight: Mujibillo Tursunov (8-0-0, 2 KOS – UZBEKISTAN) vs. Danylo Lozan (15-0-0, 9 KOS – UKRAINE) and Carlos Utria (12-0-0, 10 KOS – COLOMBIA) vs. Ntethelelo Nkosi (10-2-0, 5 KOS – SOUTH AFRICA).
• Middleweight: Derek Pomerleau (14-0-0, 11 KOS – CANADA) vs. Carlos Sinisterra (13-1-0, 10 KOS – COLOMBIA) and Dylan Biggs (16-1-0, 9 KOS – AUSTRALIA) vs. Lancelot de la Chapelle (17-1-2, 5 KOS – FRANCE).
• Heavyweight: Dante Stone (21-1-0, 13 KOS – USA) vs. Kevin Ramírez (10-0-2, 4 KOS – ARGENTINA) and Keaton Gomes (13-3-0, 11 KOS – SOUTH AFRICA) vs. Ahmed Krnjic (6-0-0, 4 KOS – BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA).

Did You Know…?

The life stories we’ve discovered in the Grand Prix are countless. One, in particular, made a big impression on me. Bekizizwe Maitse earned a miserable $150 in his last fight before the tournament. He has won his three fights, and today he has already bought two houses that he rents out and a small gym to earn a living.

Today’s Anecdote

Another of my dad’s dreams was to see boxing emerge in the Middle East. The son of a Syrian mother and a Lebanese father, his love and affection for his roots made him dream of seeing it in his land. He was close to arranging for Mike Tyson to fight in Lebanon, but the outbreak of one of the many wars ended the plan. One of the great memories I have of my grandfather, Don Elías, was when he told us about my dad and boxing. Don Elías went to visit my dad at school in Texas during his high school years, and that day there was boxing against the rival school; upon seeing his opponent, Don Jose classmate pretended to be sick, and everyone then pushed little José, to go up against the huge rival. After taking a beating, my grandfather told us, he landed a lucky punch and knocked out his opponent and was then carried on shoulders like a hero! José Sulaimán, José Sulaimán all kids chanted ….

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