Sulaiman to grace Awards Night

World Boxing Council (WBC) president Mauricio Sulaiman arrives here tomorrow in a sentimental visit to the country where the governing body traces a lot of its roots. It was a Filipino who crafted the WBC Constitution and Manila hosted the historic convention that laid the foundations of the organization in 1967. Manila has since hosted the annual WBC Convention twice more, in 1970 and 2007. The city also hosted the WBC Women’s Convention in 2018.

The WBC Constitution was authored by WBC secretary-general Rudy Salud and it was ratified during the Manila Convention presided by WBC president Justiniano Montano, Jr., also a Filipino. Salud appointed Jose Sulaiman as deputy secretary-general in 1968. Montano and Salud ended their terms in 1971 and four years later, Sulaiman was voted president. Sulaiman’s son Mauricio was elected WBC president in 2014 after his father’s death.

The Philippines was one of the WBC’s 11 founding member countries with the US, UK, Argentina, France, Mexico, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil. The WBC was formed in 1963 and its first president was Mexican Luis Spota. Montano was elected second president in 1968 and Mexican Ramon Velasquez the third president in 1971. Sulaiman was voted the fourth president in 1975 and his son Mauricio, the fifth in 2014. The WBC has pioneered in introducing several innovations in the sport, including the reduction from 15 to 12 rounds in championship fights for the safety of boxers, day before weigh-ins, use of thumb-attached gloves and the recognition of 17 weight divisions. In 2016, the WBC started the ”Clean Boxing Program” tied up with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

Matt Christie, writing in Boxing News, described the WBC as “the leading organization for instigating change for the better” and noted that “Mauricio, a man with boxing in his blood, has followed in his father’s footsteps and deserves respect for tirelessly striving to improve the safety of the sport and providing significant financial support to charities and ex-boxers.” Sulaiman, 54, has been at the forefront of preserving the integrity of the fight game and providing a safety net for both present-day and former boxers. His wife and WBC Cares chair Christiane Manzur attended the WBC Women’s Convention in Manila in 2018 and visited the Tuloy Sa Don Bosco Streetchildren Village in Alabang with WBC women’s champions, fighters and officials to distribute P100,000 worth of groceries, toiletries, footballs and sports equipment.

Among the former Filipino WBC champions were Manny Pacquiao, Flash Elorde, Erbito Salavarria, Rolando Navarrete, Nonito Donaire, Jr., Gerry Peñalosa, Frank Cedeno, Luisito Espinosa, Rolando Pascua, Malcolm Tuñacao, Brian Viloria, Rodel Mayol and Mark Magsayo.

Sulaiman will pay tribute to Elorde in a wreath-laying ceremony at his Manila Memorial Park tomb on Friday, meet the media at a morning Okada press conference on Saturday and attend the inaugural Pacquiao-Elorde Awards Night as guest of honor and speaker at Okada on Sunday. He was also the guest of honor and speaker at the 16th Elorde Awards Night in Manila. The Elorde Awards Night was an annual event started in 2000 and after 23 stagings, it has metamorphosed into the Pacquiao-Elorde Awards Night.