World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman,Boxing’s Godfather, Dies at age 82 in Los Angeles
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Los Angeles, CA (January 17, 2014)– One of boxing’s best known personalities and most recognizable names ever in the modern era ever, Jose Sulaiman Chagnon of Mexico City, Mexico, a Mexican of Lebanese descent who served as the mild-mannered president for life of the World Boxing Council since December 5, 1975, died Thursday, January 16, 2014, at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, from complications of double bypass heart surgery in October complicated by diabetes. Sulaiman’s health slowly declined in the last 12 months of his life. A man of integrity, honorability, and pure heart, Sulaiman lived his life to the fullest, and put his heart and soul into every WBC boxing event he supervised for the fans and the general public, making sure every show was a gem. Like the Frank Sinatra song ‘My Way’, as the WBC website denotes, Jose Sulaiman did things in the world of boxing ‘his way’ for four decades, and was quite successful at that as boxing’s innovator.
An amateur boxer turned referee, judge, promoter, and sanctioning official, Sulaiman sanctioned over 1,100 professional world title bouts involving over 3000 world champions during his tenure. His last official event supervisory appearance as WBC president at ringside occurred at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 4, 2013, for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 12 round decision win over Roberto Guerrero to win the WBC World Welterweight title.
Sulaiman’s career influence over all aspects of the fight game earned him the unofficial title over time as boxing’s ‘Godfather’, a powerful pun comparison reference alluding to the fictional legendary movie character ‘The Godfather’, Don Vito Corleone, portrayed by the late actor Marlon Brando. Sulaiman interacted heavily with promoter Don King to bring the fight game to worldwide network television so the general public could watch.
Sulaiman, born in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 30, 1931, was moved to a physical rehabilitation center after his heart surgery, but passed away after several months without fully recovering. The first scheduled WBC world title bout which will occur after Sulaiman’s passing will be the 12 round WBC Minimumweight world title bout between Xiong Zhao Zhong, China’s first professional world champion, and Oswaldo ‘Gallito’ Novoa of Guadalajara, Mexico, to be held in Haikou, China, and will be Zhong’s third defense of the title he won in China in November 2012.
Major rules innovations the colorful Sulaiman is credited with include the reduction of championship rounds from 15 to 12 for safety reasons, the weigh-in 24 hours before fight time, the creation of junior weight divisions, the creation of the World Medical Congress, the introduction of the attached thumbed glove, and the funding of brain injury research programs at UCLA Medical Center.
Sulaiman was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Sulaiman, who spoke English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Italian, and Portuguese, operated a successful medical supply company in Mexico. The WBC’s online website with boxing ratings, and annual conventions over which Sulaiman presided, were boxing’s most significant grapevine event for making contacts and exchanging information between notables in the boxing world today. Sulaiman’s face and presence in the boxing world will surely be missed.
Funeral arrangements in Mexico City are pending. For more details, go to the World Boxing Council website at
http://www.wbcboxing.com/ The website offers both English and Spanish online formats. A Jose Sulaiman WBC image gallery can be found online at http://wbcboxing.com/jsg/
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