A Great 2024 » January 2, 2025

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

Another year is ending, a cycle closing, only to open another one. A 2024 that was marked and distinguished by so many things in my personal, professional, family life and also as a Mexican. I am going to dedicate this column to recount what 2024 was like for me…

• On August 18, my beloved mother left us. I no longer have a father or mother. Now, my siblings and I are the generation to continue the Sulaimán Saldívar family, along with our children and one day the grandchildren will arrive. The departure of my mother brought us an outpouring of love and unity from family, friends and even strangers, because she left a great mark by sowing, generating and harvesting love, affection, friendship, attention and kindness.
• In February and October I had the great fortune to visit the Holy Father Francisco in the company of my brother Héctor and our dear Adrián Pallarols; Two unforgettable and enriching encounters, with great learning gleaned from the spiritual leader of humanity.
• In July, Mexico voted to elect Claudia Sheinbaum as President of our country. I have had the great honor of participating in various boxing activities and social responsibility programs guided and united via her leadership.
• In June, I was present at perhaps the last promotion of the legendary man with the raised hair. Don King, who at 93 years old, put on a memorable card at the Hard Rock in Miami.
• I visited Thailand in January to witness the WBC Muaythai World Festival, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of this program that my father started at the request of the King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej.
• I was present in the Philippines for the first annual awards dinner of the family of Flash Elorde and the legend Manny Pacquiao.
• I missed the big fight between Mexican idol Saul Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia, because on May 5th my son Jose graduated with highest honors from the university, giving us great satisfaction and pride for his dedication and determination to be someone in life.
• I witnessed one of the best heavyweight fights in history, when Tyson Fury lost his WBC world championship and Oleksander Usyk became UNDISPUTED champion in an epic battle full of drama in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I returned to that country to see the rematch on December 21st and although it was not as dramatic a fight as the first, it was a memorable encounter that Usyk won again.
• In January, I held a meeting with the most important promoters in the world of boxing. This Promoters Summit was very productive and managed to bring them together in the much needed unity for agreements and reciprocity. Bob Arum, Matchroom, Tom Brown and Luis de Cubas from PBC, Salvatore Cherchi, Fernando Beltran, Tom Loeffler and others were there.
• I had an unforgettable meeting with wounded soldiers from Ukraine, who were brought to Riyadh to watch the fight; I spoke with them, they were given WBC kits and we confirmed the World Boxing Council’s unconditional support for peace. We proceeded with a donation of 250 thousand dollars promised to Pope Francis to be used for children in Ukraine and Gaza.
• An agreement was signed with His Excellency Turki Alalshik for a wide variety of social responsibility activations at a global level, with the collaboration of WBC and Riyadh Season.
• I held a meeting with the leaders of World Boxing and its president Boris Van Der Vorst, to confirm our support to seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee and thus guarantee that boxing continues in the Olympic Games.
• We collaborated to celebrate the 100th fight card of the MGM arena in its 30 years of existence, remembering the great battles and magnificent classics held there with Tyson, Chavez, Morales, Barrera, Marquez, Pacquiao, De la Hoya, Canelo, Mayweather and so many more.
• I was present at the induction of my friend Ana Maria Torres in the Hall of Fame in Canastota.
• We held a medical congress in Orizaba Veracruz Mexico with the presence of more than 150 doctors.
• I was honored with the State Sports Award in Mexico City in December.
• I was called to be a counselor of the Chapultepec Zoo Trust in the company of honorable colleagues from Mexican society.
• I was in Japan for a fabulous fight card, where Junto Nakatani successfully defended his world championship.
• I had the satisfaction of visiting Miss Nagano who at 99 years old, continues to run the Teiken Gym of my beloved Mr. Honda.
• I was in Spain for a series of meetings with various groups to seek the relaunch of boxing in that country.
• I managed to establish a very special friendship with David Summers, singer of Hombres G and his family.
• We celebrated with great results the interdependence boxing tournament organized by the Secretariat of Citizen Protection in Mexico.
• We held our annual Convention in Hamburg, Germany. An unforgettable meeting in which the world of boxing combined and united, to evaluate what was achieved during the year and plan ahead about what to do in the coming twelve months.
• The Riyadh Season WBC Boxing Grand Prix was signed. A tournament that will be held during 2025 with 5 events in Saudi Arabia; 32 fighters in 4 divisions (featherweight, super lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight) is the World Cup that my father dreamed of holding. Now, with the support of Turki Alalshik it is a tangible reality.
• I managed to get closer to one of the idols of my life, the creator of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and the singer of Scorpions, Klaus Meine. Both received the peace award from the WBC.

Did you know?

Boxing is off the list of sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and there is only one chance left to rescue it, to achieve the affiliation of countries to World Boxing who already has the support of the IOC.

Today’s anecdote…

I was born on December 30, 1969. My mother was a warrior, because she had six children, all of them natural births. On the 30th, the nurses told her to hold on so that I would be born on January 1st because that way she would receive many gifts from many places. My father asked her, “How do you hold on, old lady? What? It’s like I’m crazy, I’m ready and you’re there eating mango watching me as if nothing happened… During my entire childhood I suffered because no one congratulated me, they didn’t give me gifts because they were mixed with Christmas presents. There was no party because everyone was preparing for the New Year. However, what I never lacked was the affection and love of my parents in the company of our family in Ciudad Valles with my grandfather Elías. Nowadays, with social networks and Facebook reminders, everyone talks to me and makes me feel very happy.

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