Round 12: Pope Francis and Lumumba Estaba

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

We were overwhelmed by the news about the hospitalization of the Holy Father Francis in the Vatican. We join in prayer for his speedy recovery.

Pope Francis is one of the most special people in the history of humanity and has allowed boxing to be close to him on many occasions, and in various ways. We are witnesses to some miracles that have occurred and he has given a dimension to our sport that we never dreamed of having.

On the other hand, a great champion, Luis Lumumba Estaba, passed away in Venezuela. He was one of my father’s favorites, since he was crowned in 1975, the very year he was elected to lead the WBC.

Estaba defended his crown five times, in 1976, and another five times in 1977; he lost his title to one of the Kings of the Peninsula, Freddy Castillo.

Lumumba was in very poor health, and is now resting in peace. With great satisfaction we can share that the José Sulaimán Champions Fund managed to give him the necessary support so that his last years would be dignified and with the necessary medical treatments.

I am traveling to Riyadh to be present at one of the most important cards in the history of boxing.

It turns out that next Saturday, Riyadh Season, once again, managed to get the collaboration of many promoters to put on a show with seven world championships, and the main event will be the highly anticipated rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.

The Queensberry, MatchRoom, PBC and TGB companies, Golden Boy, World Boxing and other promoters will be present to achieve this mega card in the style of Don King from the nineties.

It will be available exclusively on the DAZN platform, and it is highly recommended to watch this event. If you don’t have DAZN, you can subscribe here: http://DAZN.com/wbc

On this occasion we will present the José Sulaimán Trophy, which will be awarded to the winners of the Grand Prix, the World Cup of professional boxing, which will take place this year in Saudi Arabia.

We continue to move forward with the work to achieve the appropriate financial products so that boxers can have their official retirement fund. GBM has been the instrument for important achievements in the structure for Mexico and the US.

Starting in 2026, no boxer will be able to compete in WBC fights without having a retirement program. It is saddening  to witness how the vast majority of athletes end their sports careers and are in serious difficulties for the rest of their lives. This must be rectified.

Another very important program is BoxMed. This was developed by Conexión Fácil and its leader Andrew Kluge, a great person who has fallen in love with boxing and has dedicated three years to being able to have this unique platform in sports. BoxMed is a cell phone app that creates individual accounts for boxers, and in it you can have a significant number of health benefits. The first step is the weigh-in, this module is for boxers to obligatorily register their weight once a month to monitor that they are not too overweight; weight is the number one enemy, and it is a step that is very helpful over the years.

In addition to the weigh-in, it has many other applications such as the medical record, injury record, 24/7 experts for consultations on any medical issue, anti-doping program, tutorials and it is available in 10 languages.

Saúl Canelo Álvarez made a splash and signed a contract with His Excellence Turki Alalshikh, from Riyadh Season. Without having exact data, it is speculated that it is the most important contract in the history of boxing.

I am very happy for Canelo, he really deserves this distinction, and with it he will open his spectrum to the whole world. We will see what happens with the traditional date of May 5, which will now be Saturday 3, and the traditional show in Las Vegas.

Saúl signed four fights: May and September 2025; by the way, this last month will be in Las Vegas against Terence Crawford and, if he is victorious, the one on May 3 in Riyadh, obviously; and the two remaining fights in Saudi Arabia, in 2026.

Did you know that…?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the column, we have witnessed miracles with the power of the faith and prayer of Pope Francis.

On the occasions that we have had the fortune of visiting him and meeting with him, my brother Hector, Adrian Pallarols and I always have the fortune of getting him to bless some rosaries.

It turns out that on December 1, 2018, WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson was knocked out in Canada and suffered a stroke that required emergency surgery.

Adonis was in a coma, and on December 18, I decided to travel to Toronto to visit him; I took with me one of those rosaries with the blessing of Pope Francis. It was shocking to walk in and see him lying in intensive care with a big scar on his head, intubated and helpless. I took his hand and placed the rosary on it, prayed for a few minutes, and then sat near his bed, when suddenly he started trying to get out of bed making very loud sounds. That was the first sign of life in 18 days; as of today, Stevenson lives happily, drives and enjoys life; he is an ambassador for the WBC and the champion of life.

Today’s anecdote

My dad had the peculiar ability to attend to multiple matters at the same time: he could be on the phone, listening to the conversation of whoever was next to him and see what was going on around him or on TV, but when he concentrated on something important, he didn’t pay attention to anyone…

One day I took my son José, he was little, about six or seven years old, and my dad was in the middle of a big problem. When he saw him, he smiled and hugged him, and Josesito, wanting to make conversation, said to him: “Grandpa, I had a soccer game”; “And how did it go, my grandson?” “They beat us 4-0.” Don José, totally focused on his problem, answered: “Very well, my boy, congratulations!” You can imagine how Chris and I struggled to explain this answer to our child.

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