Lovingly remembering Don José Sulaimán

Ninety-two years ago, in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, an extraordinary person was born, who would become one of the most brilliant innovators in our Sport!

Don José Sulaimán Chagnón, the most important Commissioner in history of Boxing.

Don José spent part of his childhood and youth in the afore mentioned town and Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí. He became a keen and talented athlete, with firm inclinations towards boxing and baseball.

He stood out in boxing even as a child, and later he would hold all the existing jobs of promoter, commissioner, referee, judge and administrator until he settled in Mexico City, spending the rest of his long and fruitful life here in the Capitol.

Don Jose progressed as the Executive Secretary of the World Boxing Council, to become President.

He worked tirelessly for almost four decades, always serving with dedication, creating and shaping monumental and historic changes of enormous significance in medicine, while constantly improving the rules, insuring they became more humane for the most important folk…the boxers themselves.

These tremendous developments and improvements, are by far the best in history and this is recognized worldwide.

As the Father of Modern Boxing, Don Jose left us a fantastic legacy for his beloved World Boxing Council. The most important of the boxing organizations, with 170 affiliated countries, magnificent champions in all divisions, plus records and statistics that in other times and eras were unthinkable and unattainable.

Don Jose gave boxing a fresh new face, taking it from a show blemished and tarnished spectacle with extreme violence and danger, to what it is today, with properly matched fights, governed by vigilant and caring rules which take care at all times of those who have the tenacity to climb up into the ring.

Even though boxing continues to hold risks, as do all contact sports, these cannot be compared to the stark, staggering and rudimentary conditions which prevailed in the past.

Our Life President passed away on January 14, 2014. Don Jose will forever be remembered for his knowledge, wisdom, spirit, dedication, determination, love and laughter which uniquely characterized him making him AN ALL TIME GREAT.

The path which he opened up on December 5, 1975, when he was unanimously elected WBC President in Tunis, Tunisia, will continue as a trail blazing highway and a beacon of hope, faith and progression.