By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán / President of the WBC

Time is often ignored by human beings, without understanding and appreciating that lost minutes, departed hours and wasted days will never come back.

If we make a simple analysis of a given day, we can realize how we all waste time in many ways, due to our own actions, or by others wasting our valuable time. Regardless if it is tardiness or inattention, in reality it has vanished forever.

Our day-to-day and day-by-day is controlled and dominated by the damn cell phone. It’s likely that you’re reading this column on your cell phone, and most likely during working hours. Invariably, when we are with our family, we are on incessantly on the cell phone instead of enjoying those moments, those bright eyes, smiles and priceless moments of family life. The same with friends, being in a group, we are all chatting with someone who is far away and the cell phone brings us closer to them, but it partitions and separates us from those who are there right next to us.

I always remember a phrase that my dad’s dear friend, Yamil Chade, used to say: “The years teach you what the days ignore.”

When you reflect on what has happened over time, you realize how you did not truly value and cherish those momentous moments when they were occurring. It’s never too late to start. Let’s make the purpose of adding value to our time with some very practical things which can achieve this goal:

1) Schedule our activities for the day, week and month to maintain, utilize and control our management of our time.

2) Put aside the cell phone at specific times, specifically lunch, dinner and family time. A breather from the cell phone.

3) Choose, but also prioritize the appointments and meetings to which we must attend.

4) Determine the duration of a zoom meeting, as time is wasted in the conversation to initially break the ice.

5) Plan the day in the morning and evaluate its results at night.

Speaking of timing, one of the main elements of a boxing match is the time keeper! When boxing began, there was no time keeper. The first round ended only when one of the fighters bled and from then on, each round ended when one of the fighter was knocked down.

I leave to you the task of investigating when length of time was stipulated to rounds.

Rounds last three minutes of action and one minute of rest. In women’s boxing there are two minutes of combat and one of rest. The resting minute belongs to the round just fought. It is here where the time keeper is part of the boxing bouts, ever present, but without having any recognition, whatsoever, from anyone. But what happens if he makes a mistake? People will criticize him big time! Yet, no one has ever been heard to mention: “What a good job the time keeper did,” or have you?

In addition to ringing the bell to start and end the round, to take and keep control of the time, some other practices of great importance have been instituted and are performed by this Very Important Person.

The Time Keeper also informs when there are ten seconds left in the round. This to alert the referee, helping him or her and thus enabling punctually, with a safe halt to the action in a timely manner when the bell rings.

For many years spotlights were used in the corners, which were turned on by the Time Keeper activated by a switch, to inform the contestants there were 10 seconds left.

Currently, most of the time keepers sound a wooden board, better known as claps to produce a clearly audible clacking sound, that alerts the referee and boxers. In England, the time keeper raises his hand, and still does in many arenas, although they are already adopting the international practices of sounding the boards.

In Mexico and other countries, the Time Keeper also blows a whistle ten seconds before the start of the round, to alert the fighter`s seconds to exit the ring before the bell rings.

Another of the great responsibilities of the time keeper, is to help the referee with the count when there are knockdowns. When a boxer is knocked down, the time keeper must start the count with his hand, using a white glove, this allows the Referee to mechanically attend to what he must do when there is a knockdown, such as assessing the boxer on the canvas and sending the standing one to the neutral corner. The Referee must turn his sight to the timekeeper and from there he takes the count he is signaled and continues it.

This character must also attend to the call of the Referee when he asks for time out, the clock needs to be stopped to address to a situation in the ring, commonly it is to call the doctor to inspect a fighter, remove tape from the gloves that has come loose, replace the mouthpiece when it has come out, and other situations that often happen.

So, The Time Keeper needs a stopwatch for the three minutes of the round, and another stopwatch for the minute of rest, a whistle for the ten seconds before the start of the round, some sounding boards for announcing the ten seconds before the end of the round, a bell and a hammer or a piece of metal to ring the bell.

A boxing card usually consists of 6 to 10 fights. The big shows have up to 15 fights. Let’s say that on average you have 60 rounds of combat during a boxing evening. There are 60 rounds in which the time keeper must maintain absolute concentration and execute all these absolutely necessary elements that nobody really notices, when watching a boxing show. The time keeper is one of the unsung heroes of our sport.

Did you know…

There are many boxing commissions, that mistakenly rule that a fight is considered official, once the bell rings at the end of the fourth round.

The reality is that the minute of rest belongs to the round that was fought previously and it is unfair to take that minute away from the corners, doctors or referees in order to make a determination in case they have to stop the fight. For the WBC, the rule is that it is not an official match until the bell rings to start the fifth round.

Today’s anecdote…

One of the biggest upsets in boxing history came in Japan when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson to take away his undefeated record and his world championship belts.

The reality is that Douglas overwhelmed a Tyson who arrived without adequate training and with many personal problems that led to indiscipline. Douglas was greatly motivated by the recent death of his father and performed the best fight of his career.

Tyson and the whole world were so confident of Douglas’ imminent defeat that the odds were 42 to 1. It was there in the Tokyo Dome where one of the biggest controversies took place because in the eighth round, Tyson finally managed to land a big shot, thus sending Buster to the canvas.

Well, the Referee did not follow the appropriate mechanics, because when Douglas was knocked down, he turned to direct Tyson to the neutral corner and sent him to an incorrect one. By the time he got to start his count on Douglas, the time keeper was already at 5 and the referee started counting one! This produced a long count and Douglas was able to remain 15 seconds on the canvass. Douglas recovered, arose and knocked out an exhausted Mike Tyson two rounds later.

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