By Mauricio Sulaimán / Son of José Sulaimán / President of the WBC

Before anything, I would like to begin by asking everyone to pray for the successful and prompt recovery of our Holy Father Francis, who is battling pneumonia.

Turning our attention to Boxing, the event called The Last Crescendo, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, lived up to and even exceeded expectations. The action reached its peak in the ring, as the seven world championship fights were of the highest level of competitiveness, excitement and boxing skills.

This was the second time that five WBC world championships were contested, only Don King staged such back in 1994, when Julio Cesar Chavez avenged his first loss against Frankie Randall. The other four fights were Ricardo Lopez vs. Kermin Guardia, Azumah Nelson vs. James Leija, Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson and Terry Norris vs. Simon Brown, a card called “Revenge: The Rematches” , since all of them, with the exception of the one with Finito Lopez, were rematches fights.

Everything is different in this part of the world, even though it is my fifth card in Saudi Arabia, it is difficult to manage the times. The journey for those of us who travel from the American Continent is very long considering waiting times at the airports for connections.

Due to the extreme climate, the activities are mostly at night. For the fighters it means adjustment complications (in schedules), public training, press conferences and weigh-ins start at nine at night, and the main fight is at two in the morning. The air is heavy, the atmosphere and food different, in short, everything is unlike what most are used to. The hospitality and kindness are exemplary, food is delicious and tempting.

I had a series of great satisfactions and important emotions. On the day of my arrival, precisely at the closing press conference, I formally announced the Riyadh Season WBC Grand Prix, the World Cup of professional boxing.

One of my father’s great dreams is now a a reality, thanks to the leadership of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. A total of 32 boxers in each of the featherweight, super lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions will fight in search of the José Sulaimán Trophy. There will be five events in the reign of Saudi Arabia, starting on April 17, with 64 fights, 16 each day, and with a series of innovative rules, which will be of security and justice for the fighters, which I will describe:

Six-round fights.

There will be no draws; a mechanism was designed in which each round will have a value, depending on whether it was won close, moderate or clear.

The judges’ official scores will be announced every two rounds.

There will be a special buzzer to indicate that 30 seconds remain in the round.

There will be instant replay.

We have representatives from 41 countries, and everything is ready to start.

It was great to sanction five WBC fights, and I had very special moments in each fight.

Agit Kabayel, who gave a 40 pound advantage to his rival, former world champion, Chinese Zhilei Zhang, fought a brave fight, with effective body shots and got up from the canvas to knock out the giant in the sixth round. It was very special to call Oleksandr Usyk to come into the ring and present the WBC Interim championship belt to Kabayel, who has been very loyal to the WBC. Agit is the first Turkish fighter to be crowned world champion.

Vergil Ortiz, a great Mexican-American fighter, had a very tough rival, Israil Madrimov, who had just given the fight of his life to Terence Crawford. Ortiz showed his mettle and defeated the Uzbek by unanimous decision. In the ring, Oscar de la Hoya, who is his promoter, was elated, and when I approached Ortiz we agreed that he would visit us for the traditional weekly press conference called  Coffee Tuesday in Mexico City, and after that we will have a talent show performance , since he plays the guitar and I play the drums and we love the same music.

Shakur Stevenson won by knocked out in nine, and the special moment was handing the trainer’s belt to his grandfather in the ring.

Carlos Adames, our middleweight champion, battled against  Hamzah Sheeraz, and the fight ended in a draw, even though he did enough to deserve the win. Adames visited me the next day, and gave us his uniform, beautiful and elegant, exactly the same as the one Marvin Hagler wore while he reigned in the same division. This uniform will find a special place in the WBC museum.

The main event was spectacular, the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. The first was of an exceptionally high technical level, and this one turned out to be a war of powerful exchanges, with great boxing and powerful combinations, which brought victory to Bivol, who avenged his first defeat, and removed the undefeated record from Beterbiev, who had been champion since 2019. Now it will be David Benavidez’s turn. I was humbled to see Bivol happiness to win the WBC Green belt, he has made great comments about such accomplishment . He also received the beautiful commemorative UNDISPUTED belt prepared as a special trophy for the winner.

DID YOU KNOW…?

One of the ideas that my father, José Sulaimán, left pending and has now been already established  is to recognize the coach who manages to crown a WBC champion, awarding him the trainers belt.

This is in the shape of a towel, since that is how he is distinguished, and the great Angelo Dundee and Cuyo Hernández inspired us to materialize it.

The British coach Joe Gallagher has crowned several champions, and he contacted me with a special request. He asked for a coach’s belt, but for the right shoulder since they are all for the left. He was given the prize at the weigh-in and he burst into tears, and told me that it will be a special inspiration to continue his battle against the cancer that was recently discovered.

Today’s Anecdote

My father dreamed of seeing boxing in the Middle East, he even planned to take Mike Tyson to fight in Lebanon in the early 90s, but when the war broke out, the possibility collapsed.

In 2013, he supported a small promoter and the first world championship fight in the region was achieved, with the WBC strawweight world champion, the Chinese Chaozhong Xiong, who defended his title against the Filipino Denver Cuello, it was a card that had modest significance… Surely Don Jose is amazed to see what is happening now in 2025.