By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán – President of the WBC
Happy New Year to all. After a cascade of messages full of good wishes, original poems and others only copy/paste and forwarded, toasts, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and Happy New year messages, calls, letters and all of the above over and over in just a short period of time, a unique, lovely time. The reality of a new cycle arrives to move forward and give the best of oneself, for the family, the companies, the friends, and our communities.
We begin with sad news. Miss Nagano passed away in Japan, a lovely woman who spent her life running the Teiken gym, after the death of Akira Honda, father of Mr. Akihiko Honda, who at 17 years old was left with the burden and responsibility of the company. Nagano San gave Mr. Honda her life to turn Teiken into one of the most important promotional companies of boxing in the whole world. May God greet her in his holy glory.
Last year was a record for our organization, with a total of 309 sanctioned fights and 71 of them for world titles. The most active promoters in 2024 were:
- Matchroom 28
- Queensberry 27
- Universum 18
- Top Rank 15
- PBC 13
The lineup of WBC champions is impressive. The dilemma of classifying the famous and popular pound-for-pound champion has never been so complicated. This designation is being fought over, among others:
- Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez (Mexico). Record: 62-2-2, 39 knockouts. Champion in four divisions; he beat two undefeated rivals in 2024.
- Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine). Record: 23-0-0, 14 knockouts. Two-time gold medalist in the Olympic Games undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion; he defeated Tyson Fury twice in 2024.
- Naoya Inoue (Japan). Record: 28-0-0, 25 KOs. Four-division world champion, undisputed bantamweight and super bantamweight champion; three wins in 2024 including a packed Tokyo Dome with 55,000 fans.
- Artur Beterbiev (Canada). Record: 21-0-0, 20 KOs. Undisputed light heavyweight champion. Reigning champion since 2019.
- David Benavidez (USA/Mexico). Record: 29-0-0, 24 KOs. Three-time super middleweight world champion, with a big win in 2024 against former champion Gvozdyk.
- Terrence Crawford (USA). Record: 41-0-0, 31 KOs, three-division world champion, undisputed super lightweight and welterweight; one decision win in 2024.
- Gervonta Davis (USA). Record: 30-0-0, 28 KOs. Three-division world champion; one win in 2024.
- Junto Nakatani (Japan). Record: 29-0-0, 22 KOs. Super-flyweight and bantamweight world champion; three knockout wins in 2024.
- Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (USA/Mexico). Record: 21-0-0, 14 KOs. Flyweight and two-time super-flyweight champion; two big knockout wins in 2024. Has defeated most of the Superfly Kings (Estrada, Cuadras, Rungvisai, Guevara).
In addition to these champions, there are others who easily make up the list of the best in the world, such as Tyson Fury, Kenshiro Teraji, Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, and Dmitry Bivol.
As for women, there is a long list of quality champions, including Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Amanda Serrano, Gabriela Fundora, Alicia Baumgarner, Jamileth Mercado, and Caroline Dubois, among others.
The 2025 calendar is already full of huge fights. Monster Inoue will defend against Goodman in Tokyo on January 25. The first PBC card will take place in Las Vegas with David Benavidez vs. David Morrel, the great rematch between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton, and the Mexican war Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Angel Fierro.
On February 22, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one of the most spectacular events of recent decades will be presented, with seven world championship fights: the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol rematch, Agit Kabayel vs. Zhilei Zhang for the WBC interim heavyweight title; Carlos “Bronco” Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz for the WBC middleweight title; Virgil Ortiz vs. Israil Madrimov for the interim WBC welterweight title, and three more fights.
What fights do we want to see this year?
- Fury vs. Joshua.
- Crawford vs. Ennis.
- Canelo vs. Benavidez.
- Shakur vs. Gervonta.
- Inoue vs. Nakatani.
- Nakatani vs. Rodriguez.
- Haney vs. Barrios.
- Taylor vs. Cameron.
- Taylor vs. Serrano 3.
- Dubois vs. Taylor.
Did you know?
The best of 2024 was revealed yesterday at the start-of-the-year conference. A Tuesday of coffee on Monday at our Sport and Chips headquarters, where Fernando Schwartz offers us great hospitality. It would be incorrect to reveal the results, but I can assure you that it has been a difficult process of selecting, since there were great fights, knockouts, and dramatic fights.
Anecdote for today…
I already told you about the beautiful Christmas story that my father, José Sulaimán, told us every year. Santa Claus has already arrived on December 24 to bring happiness and joy to millions of children. He is the fourth Wise Man who was left behind a couple of millennia ago.
Today it is the turn of the Wise Men to arrive at the houses to make our children’s dreams come true.
At the Sulaiman home there was a giant shoe that my father brought from one of his many trips. It was magical to run downstairs early in the morning of January 6 to find it overflowing with candy, and there the fight between the six siblings began.
We all managed to gather a good amount of candy to start the year. That shoe no longer exists, but the memory of my parents is more alive than ever. May God have and hold Don José and Doña Martha in his holy glory.
I appreciate your comments at [email protected].
