Skip to content
Home » Mauricio Sulaiman column: Back to Basics

Mauricio Sulaiman column: Back to Basics

Boxing will feature a challenge in this Olympic games in Rio as AIBA has taken the decision to change the rules of enrollment as well as the rules of competition. As multiple articles in the news taint AIBA’s reputation with allegations of all sorts, fighters will go into the ring to do their work and we all wish them great success, and hopefully the sport of boxing will come out in a positive note. No headgear will certainly be a topic of discussion. I do anticipate cuts that will force potential medal winners out of the Olympics and the scoring of the fights will be under heavy scrutiny, but I am personally hopeful that everything will leave the sport on a high note at the end of the Games.

Professional boxing needs to go back to basics. I may have written this before, but I will continue to openly state the urgent need of everybody to work together, to sit down and reach agreements and simply go back to basics. Trainers need to learn how to train fighters, matchmakers to understand the responsibility of even matches, promoters to start promoting, selling tickets, creating figures with interest in the public, and so on.

There needs to be mid- and long-term plans contrary to the current fight by fight or event by event planning in our sport.

The Association of Boxing Commissions will be meeting in Las Vegas next week in their annual convention. I will be present, as I have been to most of the conventions of the ABC. The agenda is full of important topics and I can see a determination to be proactive. I congratulate Mike Mazzulli, the ABC president, as he is leading the works in search of unity among commissions and boxing organizations . Again, working together works. It is so important to look into simple matters and take actions . How complicated could it be to have mandatory uniform medicals agreed for all states in the USA? All rules should be uniform and it is only by the will of making things happen.

Agreements between commission and organizations should be simple and for the best interest of the events. The WBC has been and will always be respectful of the autonomy and authority of the local boxing commission where the fight takes place, and always try to have mutual and reciprocity agreements . I will be honored to be at the ABC convention and with hopes that solid agreements can be reached for the betterment of the sport and the safety of the athletes.

I will also be there for the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, and will join the world in honoring the many heroes of the sport who will be inducted in this year’s event.

Both the ABC convention and the NBHF events are being dedicated to the memory of The Greatest, of the King of Boxing, Muhammad Ali!