THE WBC MOURNS THE PASSING OF GILBERTO MENDOZA
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 12 Mar 2016
The World Boxing Council headed by its president Mauricio Sulaiman says it is saddened by the news from Caracas, Venezuela that former World Boxing Association president Don Gilberto had passed away.
Mendoza headed the WBA since October 7, 1982 when he was elected during the annual convention held in Puerto Rico.
The WBC in a statement on its website said Mendoza as well as nobody else did in the past even when his group was called National Boxing Association and was based in the United States.
The WBC said Don Gilberto ?an expert in boxing always considered the creation of the program known as ?KO D rugs? as one of his greatest accomplishments as commissioner? which was carried out in Venezuela, Panama and other countries for almost a quarter of a century.
Mendoza, an engineer by profession and with various degrees and post-graduate studies in his native Venezuela, the United States and England was at then helm of the WBA for some 33 years even as the WBC remembered him for ?his white hair, his glasses and his soft and deep voice.?
The WBC praised Mendoza as ?a beloved leader who might have lasted many more years as heading the organization if not for the diseases that finally ended his life.
It was only last year that Mendoza resigned as president of the WBC and his son Gilberto was chosen to succeed him unanimously which was similar to the overwhelming support for Mauricio Sulaiman to succeed his eminent father, Don Jose Sulaiman when he passed away at the age of 82 following heart surgery in Los Angeles on January 16, 2014.
Sulaiman and Mendoza were ?great friends.?
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