The 12th Round: Superbowl – SuperBox!

By Mauricio Sulaiman
WBC President – Jose Sulaiman’s son

I landed in Mexico City at 5 in the morning this past Sunday after a trip to Riga, Latvia and Sochi, Russia which was a great success. After a short nap I took my son Mauricio for breakfast and then back home to do the one thing I only do once a year…. Cook SuperBowl Chili! It’s the only dish I can cook and I only do it on Super Bowl day. It is really, really good…

What a game! Incredible. That is why the Super Bowl is known as one of the greatest events of the year. The Eagles came out and won the game, they were strong, smart and took the risks that many other teams failed to do against the Patriots. They took the fight toe to toe and beat them. I was very worried to see Gronkowski in the field after being brutally knocked out only 2 weeks ago. A KO like that would have given any boxer a 45 day suspension without contact. Luckily he was not hit in the head and played an incredible game in the second half.

I loved the bet that the mayors of Philadelphia and Brockton put on for the Super Bowl. The statues of Rocky Balboa in Philly and the one of Rocky Marciano in Brockton to wear the winner’s apparel after the game. They both agreed and lets see how it plays out. Now Rocky Marciano will have to honor the Philadelphia Eagles. This was a great moment to remember the passion which my father put into building the Rocky Marciano statue which the WBC constructed, shipped and delivered for the glorious day of the unveiling in Brockton Massachusetts.

Boxing is a great sport, the best of them all and the only sport which can celebrate several “Super Bowls” during each year. 2018 will certainly give boxing fans a few Boxing Super Bowls or “SuperBox” fights.

I was present in Riga, Latvia to watch the cruiserweight unification fight between Mairis Breidis and Alexandr Usyk. It was one of the greatest cruiserweight fights of all time, 12 rounds in which the sold out crowd were on their feet with a very loud atmosphere which needed in a majority decision going to Usyk. A week later Sochi, Russia hosted the other cruiserweight unification in a sold out crowd which saw the local hero Gassiev knock out Dorticos. All four fighters were undefeated and the two winners advanced to the final of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) with the Muhammad Ali trophy and the WBC Diamond at stake.

The fight which will certainly be billed as the Super Bowl of this year is the rematch between GGG and Canelo. All set for 5 de Mayo!

On February 24, Superfly II will feature WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket SorRungvisai vs Juan Francisco Estrada.

On March 3 WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will battle Luis Ortiz which will be undoubtedly a great fight with fireworks, another SuperBox.

Other potential SuperBox fights could be:

Mikey Garcia vs Jorge Linares
Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua
Usyk vs Gassiev
Stevenson vs Jack
Thurman vs Garcia rematch or some other welterweights.

Anyway, boxing is a sport which gives fans great action throughout the year and I am certain that promoters, managers, TV executives, sponsors and boxing governing entities will work to give fans the fights they all deserve to see.

We just celebrated a sensational Armed forces boxing tournament, the 4th “Jose Sulaiman” amateur battle of the badges in Mexico. Police, Army, Navy, Firemen and special forces teams met in high quality competition which was a tremendous success.

Thank you and I welcome any comments, ideas or suggestions at [email protected]

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