Round 12: The unified champions

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

By the time this column is published, I will be on my way to the biggest fight in the heavyweight division this century.

Tyson Fury, world champion of our WBC, will face the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the other three recognized belts in boxing. These types of fights are called undisputed; that is, for the undisputed title, which refers to the fact that there is no other person who is called world champion of that division.

The undisputed champion is actually somewhat unusual. Decades ago, this phenomenon occurred,  when the WBC and WBA champions faced each other. Then came the IBF, and finally, the WBO. So, to make history and  to be considered undisputed you must possess all four belts.

It is even more difficult to remain as undisputed champion, due to the regulations, which are different within the four organizations, which lead any of them to order their own mandatory fight.

The most common thing is that an undisputed champion is unknown, or renounces one or more championships, thus fragmenting the division yet again.

Recently several undisputed champions unfortunately stopped being so, Jermell Charlo unified the super welterweight division, was eventually stripped of a couple of his belts, and then moved up to fight at super middleweight against Saúl Canelo Álvarez.

Meanwhile, Terence Crawford spectacularly defeated Errol Spence unifying the welterweight; an honor that lasted but briefly, as he was stripped by an organization.

Devin Haney unified the lightweight division and later renounced all the belts when he moved up to super lightweight, and is the current WBC champion of this category.

On June 1, Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol were to have contested the undisputed light heavyweight; Unfortunately, Artur was injured  with a meniscus tear and the fight has been postponed.

There are currently two undisputed champions in the world; Canelo Álvarez at super middleweight, and Naoya Inoue, at super bantamweight, and unless the fight ends in a draw, this Saturday there will be a third in the top division.

The last undisputed heavyweight was Lennox Lewis, nothing more and nothing less, one of the greatest champions in history.

Lennox beat every boxer he faced; His only two defeats were avenged with aplomb, by beating Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman.

Lewis defeated Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, and many other figures. He won his last fight by defeating the man who eventually took his place as WBC world champion, the current governor of Kyiv, Ukraine, Vitali Klischko. Lennox retired from boxing as a world champion, never returned, and is an exemplary figure in the world of sport.

Mexico has a new champion! Pedro Guevara, who traveled to Australia to win the interim super flyweight world title and he did it with a lot of vigor and vim, against high-quality opponent Andrew Maloney who also had the support of a full stadium, the same one that little by little faded, due to the unrelenting pressure leading to dominance that ”Pedrin” imposed. Split decision, close fight with high technical quality but the systematic hitting to the body and the jarring  combinations in the final rounds undoubtedly gave the advantage to the Aztec fighter.

Moloney began promisingly, clearly dominating, but the systematic punching to the body and the strong combinations,  turned the tide. Additionally, Andrew slowed down his activity and threw far fewer punches; At the end of the action  it was revealed that he injured his left bicep during the fight. Great contest that, which without a doubt, deserves to happen again in the near future. Pedro is willing to give Andrew a rematch and in Australia!

I recently published my second podcast with the topic “Boxing Scores”, in which I try to explain various important points in relation to this delicate topic. I invite you to watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTGhaNg-BT8

 The heat we are experiencing in Mexico is sweltering. In CDMX it has never felt like never before, and our daily life is not used to this type of blast furnace heat. Few places have air conditioning, the techiness increases, the thirst… in short, everything.

Well this week is going to get even more sizzling  in Mexico City, as there will be impressive activity from the world of boxing with visits from two superstars; Floyd Mayweather will be announcing wonderful news this Wednesday the 15th, perhaps you already know it, but I better not say what it is about, in addition to a great event in the Zócalo on Thursday the 16th where he will teach a public class.

On Friday the 17th Saul Canelo Alvarez will be celebrating his third “No Golf No Life” tournament, an event of the highest level that is also for altruistic purposes. It would be wonderful to achieve a meeting between the two, who are already legends of the ring.

DID YOU KNOW…?

For a long time there was no concept of a judge in boxing. The referee was the one who, in the fight, determined the result, if there was no knockout. He would go to the corner to raise the hand of whoever he considered deserved the victory.

Later there were two judges, and the referee who also qualified, until the WBC eliminated this practice,  so that the referee could dedicate himself entirely to the action in the ring and the protection of the boxers.

Today’s anecdote

Since we are talking about heat. My dad grew up in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí, Monterrey and other places, all hot. He enjoyed finding places with air conditioning, drinking glasses of ice water, and even, on his trips, when he was in cold places, he used to dress very lightly.

On one occasion, he traveled to Indonesia, opening regions for the WBC. His hotel was typical from there, it was not a building but independent cabins in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that there was no air conditioning, and he decided to leave the room to wait for them to pass by to go to an important dinner.

When he returned he told us what happened… “I sat on a little bench, everything was totally dark, a few lamps here and there. Suddenly I saw, in the distance, the car of the Indonesian Sports Minister approaching, who was coming to pick me up; I got up to go towards them. After taking a few steps, Splash! “I fell into the hotel pool.” After a long pause, in which he tried to control his laughter and tried to continue with the story, he continued… “These guys were more surprised than I was, and one even jumped into the pool with me to help me get out.”

That was my dad, Don José Sulaimán, always with stories, always smiling, sparkling good humor and  a great talker.

I appreciate your comments at contact@wbcboxing.com