Suleiman, Jose

Jose Suleiman was born on May 30, 1931 in the city of Ciudad Victoria , Tamaulipas . Has Arab roots, his father is Lebanese by birth, and his mother is Syrian . From early childhood he was fond of boxing, spoke at the amateur level, at various times worked as a coach, promoter, referee in the ring, judge, however, he became most famous as a sports manager.

Already at the age of sixteen, Suleiman was a member of the boxing commission of the city of San Luis Potosi , and in 1968 he joined the World Boxing Council , one of the largest boxing organizations in the world, where he quickly rose through the ranks and held the highest posts. December 5, 1975 unanimously elected president of the WBC, subsequently held this position for four decades until his death.

During the reign of Suleiman, many reforms were carried out in the WBC, the regulations were changed, new rules were introduced, mainly related to the protection of health and support for athletes. Among his most significant innovations are a reduction in the duration of champion fights from fifteen rounds to twelve, a mandatory requirement to carry out weighings a day before the scheduled fights begin (earlier, weighing was carried out in the morning before a fight, as a result of which athletes entered the ring in a depleted, dehydrated state), intermediate weight categories , the organization of the World Medical Congress, the introduction of advanced boxing gloves with reliable finger protection relom, active funding for brain damage programs at the University of California, Los Angeles . Under his leadership, the PBC sanctioned more than 1,100 champion fights, and about 300 athletes received champion titles. His idea was to host the 2013 WBC World Cup , an innovative tournament that defined the official contender for the world title.

Suleiman was fluent in Spanish, English, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and French, which allowed him to expand the influence of the organization throughout the world, the general coverage of the WBC spread to 161 countries. In 2007, as an influential sports functionary, he was introduced to the International Boxing Hall of Fame . Outside of boxing, he was successfully engaged in business, managed a small company specializing in the provision of medical services in Mexico.

In recent years, he suffered from a cardiological disease and underwent complex heart surgery. Died after prolonged hospitalization on January 16, 2014 at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles ^[1] .

He was married, had four sons (Jose, Hector, Fernando, Mauricio) and two daughters (Lucy, Claudia). Mauricio Suleiman, after the death of his father, became the acting president of the WBC, and later was unanimously elected the new president ^[2] .

Despite all the merits, in the boxing community, the attitude towards Jose Suleiman was not always unambiguous, he was often criticized by journalists, athletes, promoters and other industry representatives. For example, sports columnist Matthew Harley called him an ordinary businessman who does not deserve the right to be in the International Boxing Hall of Fame ^[3] .

Suleiman was repeatedly suspected of corruption, the organization of contractual battles, in particular, he was blamed for the fact that the WBC built all its rules to please the tyrannical promoter Don King . For example, according to the journalist Jack Newfield, who wrote a book about American boxing, “Suleiman can be called King’s junior partner rather than an independent regulatory body” ^[4] . Another journalist, Peter Heller, in his book, agreeing with this opinion, described Suleiman as "a helpful King errand boy." He cited British promoter Mickey Duff , who believed that Suleiman "is not enough to see his friend King as the largest promoter in the boxing world, he wants to see him as the only promoter in boxing" ^[5] .

They noted the sympathy of the WBC leader for Mexican boxers, and a biased attitude towards them. So, when in 1988 the American Pernell Whitaker was defeated by the Mexican Jose Luis Ramirez by a controversial decision, Whitaker coach Lou Duva called Suleiman a “thief”, and Whitaker manager Shelley Finkel said that “King and Suleiman agreed on this fight, there is no doubt here cannot ” ^{[6] [7]} .

Suleiman is considered the main culprit in the 2004 financial crisis of the WBC - as a result of the sensational scandal surrounding the German boxer Graziano Rokkidzhani , the organization lost about $ 30 million and was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was because of financial difficulties that they were forced to introduce secondary “silver” and “diamond” championship belts, to which many boxing fans are extremely negative ^{[8] [9]} .

• Jose Suleiman (English) - profile on boxinginsider.com