July 18, 2023 By Mauricio Sulaimán / Son of José Sulaimán / WBC President
 WORLD BOXING COUNCIL Mauricio Sulaimán, President Rio Bamba No. 835, Col. Linda Vista México City, D.F., México, 07300 Phones +52 (55) 57150309 | +52 (55) 51195276 www.wbcboxing.com R.I.P. – WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán – 1931-2014  This past Saturday, I attended a boxing card which was held in the bullring of the traditional and historic Arroyo Restaurant, precisely where the WBC held the opening ceremony during our annual convention back in 2021 in Mexico City. It had been a long time since I had experienced an atmosphere as great as on this occasion, and it was all because of the fans, who came in droves to see the young prospect of great promise, David Picasso, who is known as Rey, “The KING.”  Picasso is a charismatic, charming, bright young man who stands out for his great personality, natural to him, and also for being an excellent student, since he is studying neurosciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He proudly wears the color gold, combined with his two loves in life: blue, for the soccer team Pumas, and green, for his World Boxing Council. Blue and gold, green and gold… The WBC Silver Championship was contested, and it turned out to be a tremendous battle against an opponent from South Africa who came to win: Sabelo Ngebinyana, national champion of his country, traveled all the way from Johannesburg. Left-handed, strong, and very brave, he fought furiously trying to bring home the green belt.  Ngebinyana got off to a stormy start in the bout, for which he won the first round, connecting on Picasso several times. The UNAM cheerleaders didn`t stop for one second, fervently encouraging their idol and with the Pumas Rebel band, they created an atmosphere like the one that is experienced in the stadiums of Europe, with the songs, chanting and the incessant music.  Picasso imposed his quality via pinpoint hooks to the liver and right hands to the face. The torrent of pressure punching took its toll. It led his rival’s corner to themselves end the fight, throwing in the towel, in the sixth round. Will this be the birth of the next Mexican idol?  We wish the best of luck to this young man who, by the way, is a worthy member of the Ring Telmex Telcel program team, a cradle of champions that Mr. Carlos Slim designed, together with my father, Jose Sulaiman, which is celebrating 15 years of existence and 23 world championships!  We closely follow the current situation of the scoring in boxing nowadays; something is happening that concerns all sectors of our sport. For some reason, it is more common than ever to see scores that are otherwise uneven. In many world title fights we are seeing a startling difference between the scores of the three official Judges. While one judge gives it to a fighter, another gives it to the opponent. We have also seen close fights, yet the scores are wide. Something is happening, as uniformity is threatened in many rings around the world. We all need to address the situation and work together to make sure officiating continues to bring justice to our sport. The World Boxing Council has a committee of ring officials that works very hard, week after week, to maintain education and training programs in different spheres.  We have the remote scoring program, in which officials score from home, and immediately send their scores to the WBC platform. This is how their performance is measured and it is a continuous process. One of the main problems is that 95 percent of the rounds are scored 10-9. The system is called mandatory 10 points. The winner of the round receives a 10, and the rival nine. If there is a knockdown then it will be eight, two knockdowns, seven, and the maximum allowed in a round is 10-6. What’s going on? A round can be won by a jab, almost no action, few punches, and whoever lands a couple of them wins 10-9. Then the next round can be full of action and wide dominance, with a clear advantage for one fighter, and it will also be scored 10-9. We would like to see 10-10 rounds when there is no clear winner, and 10-8 without a knockdown. Education, training, and uniformity. We are looking for the United States and England to agree to use the great dynamic that has been a total success throughout the rest of the world, the 4th and 8th Open Scoring rule, which basically is the announcement of the official scores after the fourth and eighth rounds. This gives transparency, which is sorely needed in boxing, but more importantly, it lets the corners know just how the fight is going according to the official judges so they can adjust strategies.  How many times have we seen the fighter and his corner swear they were winning, only to be surprised at the end with the official result? We would like those countries to accept the use of headphones that cancel external noise; this allows absolute concentration and eliminates the influence that hometown fans could vocally exert. DID YOU KNOW…? We have the proposal on the table to try to appoint five judges in the most important fights, instead of the three currently used. This will magnify and maximize the accuracy of the result. We have tested and verified, through pilot programs, that the more Judges score a fight, the possibility of a bad decision is minimized. Today’s anecdote One day while my dad was finishing the traditional weekly press conference, Coffee Tuesday, he saw how a little boy was nearby with a charismatic smile, with an expression inspired by ambition plus dreams. That little boy was wearing his Pumas shirt, and it was precisely King David Picasso. Don José, in his wheelchair, approached him and said: “Son, never stop dreaming. Work hard, be dedicated, listen and learn from your parents and your teachers, and one day you will become a world champion.”  I appreciate your feedback at contact@wbcboxing.com. |
