EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH WBC PRESIDENT DON JOSE SULAIMAN
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 08 Jul 2008
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, D.F. -- After a courtesy call with Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Antonio M. Lagdameo at the Embajada De Filipinas on Sierra Gorda, 175, Col. Lomas De Chapultepec Delegacion Miguel Hidalago, here on July 4, Dr. Allan L. Recto and I were fetched and brought by WBC staff and ring announcer Victor Perneco to the World Boxing Council (WBC) headquarters on Cuzco 872, Colonia Lindavista 07300, here.
WBC executive secretary Mauricio Sulaiman and his staff welcomed us and gave us a WBC medal each ?for being ambassadors of boxing.? We then transferred to Polanco, Don Jose Sulaiman?s favorite seafood restaurant.
There, we were introduced to Dr. Fausto Daniel Garcia Navarro, director general of Prestige Boxing Promotions; sports lawyer Gonzalo Zubillaga, and Jose Luis Camarillo, coordinator de boxeo of Esto Organizacion Editorial Mexicana.
?Welcome to Mexico. How are you?? Don Jose Sulaiman, who just arrived from Cancun, greeted and embraced us.
Having met and talked to each other a week earlier in Las Vegas during the ?Lethal Combination? promotion that pitted Manny Pacquiao vs David Diaz for the WBC lightweight crown, Sulaiman, limping and holding a cane, easily recognized the well-dressed Recto, a 44-year-old licensed ring physician from Laredo, Texas.
The indefatigable Sulaiman, 77, then turned his attention to this writer and quipped: ?I can?t forget (you), of course. We?ve met (during the WBC conventions) in Chiang Mai, Moscow, Tokyo and, of course, in Manila (during the 45th WBC convention in November 2007). I can recognize faces in boxing.?
APV: Mr. President, you have been very active as head of a very big and prestigious world boxing organization all these years. It seems that you are tireless and workaholic. What is your secret?
SULAIMAN: I like to be a person not to look a king upwards and the shoeshine boy downwards; and the person who looks at everybody eye to eye regardless of who that man is. To me, we are all equals; we should respect human beings. I?ve always been closed to boxing people (and try to be) humble as I should be. I give everybody what they want equally and I have a passion for safety.
APV: How do you remember the Philippines?
SULAIMAN: One of my mentors of my life was Lope (Papa) Sarreal (father-in-law of Elorde). He was a very dear friend and I learned very much about boxing from him. And he taught me the love of the Philippines; and also my all-time idolatry of Elorde who became my friend when he received a tribute in 1983 at the United Nations in New York.
I have fond memories of the Philippines because of the likes of Rodrigo Salud (the WBC first secretary general) and Justiniano Montano (the first WBC president), all great men of boxing.
APV: How about the 45th WBC convention in Manila in November last year?
SULAIMAN: (It was) one of the best conventions. The honor of having the President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) in the opening ceremonies was unforgettable. The smiles, the hospitality, the warmth of the people left a great impression on me and all the people that went to the convention. I also would like to thank (Games and Amusement Board chairman) Eric Buhain, who is very active and one of the most respected persons in the sports in the Philippines.
APV: You said Manny Pacquiao is the best in the world today. How do you compare him with the other Filipino ring immortal, the late former world junior lightweight champion Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde?
SULAIMAN: Many years ago, I became a friend of (former heavyweight champion) Joe Louis. I asked him if who between him and (former heavyweight champion) John L. Sullivan was the better champion. Louis told me, ?If I would have fought him in his time, he would have beaten me. If he would have fought me in my time, I would knock him out.? So the champion on every time was the best boxer of the time.
APV: You are Mexican and Pacquiao Filipino. When you say he is the best champion in the world, is this not unfair to the Mexican world champions?
SULAIMAN: I lost my citizenship. I?m the citizen of the world. The people who elected me are not Mexicans. So my commitment, my obligation is to do my very best in absolute impartiality because if I don?t do that, then I am not being worthy of the confidence that my members of the Board of the WBC have thrown me. I have no citizenship; I just have to be with justice the best way that I can. Justice sometimes is very difficult. To really know justice, we always try our best.
APV: Any message to Manny Pacquiao?
SULAIMAN: Manny Pacquiao made me very proud because he became a hero of the Philippines from the President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) down to the lower citizen. And that is what we need in the world. Manny Pacquiao is a very clean, very devoted and very understanding of his responsibilities.
APV: Please elaborate.
SULAIMAN: Manny Pacquiao is one of my heroes. I ask him not to let his mind get lost. His feet should always be on the ground; to be humble with the humble. He can be pretensious with the pretensious or always be humble with the humble because they beat the heart of the nation.
APV: What do you think are the other responsibilities of Manny Pacquiao aside from being a WBC world lightweight champion?
SULAIMAN: Today he has one of the bigger responsibilities. From now on, he has to devote totally in boxing. He should be careful about his peace of mind and his good physical condition. Time will come when he can no longer have anything to be watched. So if he really is disciplined in sport of boxing, if he loves his country more than anything else, he will be a hero to live even after God calls him to be with Him.
Top photo: WBC President Don Jose Sulaiman (R) responds to the questions of the author, Alex P. Vidal, during the interview in Mexico City, DF.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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