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

The long-awaited news was confirmed this past Friday, as Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez will defend his unified WBC-WBA-WBO-IBF super middleweight championship against the WBC Silver champion, Jaime Munguía, a war between Mexicans, on the traditional date on Cinco de Mayo (May 4), at T-Mobile, Las Vegas, USA.

There has not been a fight of this level between two Mexican fighters for many years. The most recent one, was between Canelo and Julio César Chávez Jr. in 2017. Every occasion in which two compatriots meet in a ring is a guarantee of great emotions, quality, and patriotic rivalry like no other.

On the other hand, David Benavidez will compete for the WBC interim light heavyweight title on June 15 against former light heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, a tremendous match between champions which will determine the mandatory contender in the 175-pound division. Gvozdyk is a formidable fighter, the one who retired the best in the division for years, Adonis Stevenson, and whose only loss came in the hands of today’s superstar Artur Beterbiev.

After that fight, “Bandera Roja” (red flag) Benavidez will decide in which division his career will continue. If he wins, he will be an official challenger in both divisions, so he can decree his own destiny.

Two different careers, both very interesting, with elements to make this megafight very attractive.

Canelo is coming off a couple of wonderful victories, selling out the Akron Stadium in Guadalajara, defeating John Ryder, and then the undisputed super welterweight champion, Jermell Charlo.

Munguía comes from his two best victories, winning WBC Silver in a dramatic fight against the Ukrainian, Sergiy Derevyachenko, and his recent consecration by knocking out Ryder, whom Canelo defeated only by decision.

The corners are also from the Major Leagues. Canelo with the now legendary Eddy Reynoso, and Munguía with the great trainer and strategist, also legendary Freddie Roach, with whom he has adjusted in a spectacular way.

Achieving this fight required the exemplary collaboration of all parties plus negotiations at the highest level, but Premier Boxing Champions, Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions managed to sign the agreement, with the participation of the platforms Amazon Prime and DAZN.

Congratulations to all! And that Saturday, May 4, Mexico against Mexico will make Las Vegas, and the entire world, resonate.

This last Friday, one of the spectacular events that Saudi Arabia is promoting took place.

Just before entering Ramadan on Friday the 8th, Anthony Joshua looked like never before, by knocking out, in just two rounds, Francis Ngannou, who had surprised the boxing world, coming from the UFC and impressing with a great fight against Tyson Fury.

Joshua knocked him down three times, the last with a dramatic blockbuster right hand which left Ngannou on the canvas for five minutes. Congratulations to Anthony Joshua, who has always had the WBC’s respect and admiration. Joshua was first ranked by the WBC and he fought for the IBF title as reigning WBC International champion, which was his first championship ever conquered. So, he has a special place in the heart of the WBC even though he has never fought for the WBC world heavyweight title.

On the same card, the semifinal fights were an in-depth case study in terms of the judges’ scores and referee performance.

One fight was the mandatory defense of the world featherweight title, Rey Vargas from Mexico, who retained his championship with a draw against Nick Ball, who entered the ring as WBC Silver champion and mandatory contender. In the other fight, WBC International champion Joseph Parker defeated the WBO monarch, Zhilei Zhang, and took the WBO interim heavyweight title from him.

I am very concerned to see that in our fight, Vargas vs. Ball, a judge scored the fight 116-100 in favor of one, and another judge 114-112 in favor of the other fighter. That simply can’t happen! The third had 113-113, for a final result of a draw.

We will do a detailed analysis of this situation and without a doubt, action will be taken on the matter. WBC Ring officials training aims to have judges uniformity in what they score, what they see and how to interpret the actions. The fight was hectic and even dirty due to the styles and the difference in height. Vargas fell to the canvas twice, one of them very questionable due to a push, but in the end, it was ruled a knockdown by the referee.

Rey is a great champion and he traveled to Riyadh to give a boxing demonstration of excellence and bravery. I’m very proud of him. Nick was brave and relentless. He did everything possible to come up with the victory and conquer glory with the WBC Green and gold belt.

In the other fight, Joseph Parker won. He also visited the canvas twice, which makes a case study for which very rarely happens: two fights where the one who falls to the canvas twice comes out with his hand raised.

I will continue to insist on taking measures to make boxing transparent and achieve maximum efficiency and minimize controversies. The WBC’s main proposal for very important fights is to use six judges, instead of three, so the possibility of a bad decision is minimized. The use of technology is a must and Instant Replay has to be used in all fights. Every single sport uses technology to make the sport and competitions just and fair and to avoid controversies and injustices. Football, American football, baseball, hockey, basketball, tennis, even horse racing utilizes instant replay to make sure the right call is ruled as the final result of the situation.

Yet another fight made me reflect on the WBC decision which has been questioned and resisted by some members of the boxing world, the creation of the Bridgerweight category. Kevin Lerena, the WBC interim bridgerweight champion, requested permission to fight in a WBC special event, a non-title fight in the heavyweight division. He did fight Justis Huni. This was a perfect example of the validity of the bridgerweight division. Lerena was great in the fight, hurt Huni in a couple of rounds, and was very successful, but he simply does not have the size to efficiently compete against heavyweights and he lost a close decision. Lerena faced the same against Dubois a couple of years ago, dropped him twice and had him almost out only to fall against a much bigger and stronger fighter a few rounds later.

Did you know…?

Ramadan is a Muslim celebration in which those of that religion cannot consume any liquid or food from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. I send congratulations to all Muslims of the world.

Today’s anecdote

My dad was a very polite, respectful, and kind person, but had zero tolerance for disrespectful behavior. Don José was very tough in his youth. When he came out of watching a movie about Ratón Macías, he asked my mother to be his girlfriend, and while they were walking through Plaza Hidalgo, a guy impertinently complimented her, and my mother tells us the story: “Your father walked me down the stairs and asked me to wait a moment for him. Then he went back, taught that guy some manners with a couple of right hands to the chin, then we went to have dinner at our favorite restaurant.”

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