TRIBUTES CONTINUE TO POUR IN FOR WBC PRESIDENT SULAIMAN
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Tributes from some of the greatest WBC champions, big-time promoters and Filipino boxers and boxing patrons continue to pour in for the late World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman who passed at the age of 82 after undergoing major heart surgery in October last year at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center.
Respected Philippine boxing patron and founder of the famed ALA Gym, Tony Aldeguer said ?the demise of Sulaiman is a big loss to boxing as he is not only an icon but one of a few pillars of prizefighting and a respected friend of the Philippines.?
"Fighter of the Decade" Manny Pacquiao who was a WBC champion, capturing his first title - the WBC fluweight crown with a spectacular 8th round knockout of Chatchai Sasakul on December 3, 1998 said on his twitter account "My prayers go out to the family of Jose Sulaiman. He was very kind to me. God bless you all."
Well known judge and broadcaster Salven Lagumbay told the Manila Standard ?we lost a great icon in boxing just like our friend Rudy Salud, the former WBC secretary general who crafted the WBC Constitution and By Laws and headed the Ratings Committee with Sulaiman as a member.
Reports from Mexico said thousands of people including fight fans and former world champions as well as promoters flocked to the Panteon Frances in Mexico City to begin a fond farewell to Sulaiman who succeeded the Philippines Justiniano Montano Jr as president of the WBC in 1975.
He was voted WBC ?President for Life? at the Annual Convention in Bangkok, Thailand last November when he missed the annual gathering for the very first time since he became president.
Legendary world champion Julio Cesar Chavez, Japan?s leading promoter Akihiko Honda and the giant Don King were at the French Cemetery in Mexico City to pay their respects and to bid Don Jose farewell.
Chavez said ?we came for the greatest leader who helped so many people and did so much for boxing with his rule changes? which included reducing the number of rounds in title fights to 12 from 15 and holding weigh-ins the day before a fight.
Chavez added, ?without him we would not have had so many world champions and successful Mexican boxers.?
Promoter Don King who was very close to Sulaiman said ?I lived with a great man in his time. Jose Sulaiman was a great man, a great man and he fought for peace and humanity.?
Sulaiman?s body will be cremated at noon on Monday, Manila Time followed by a huge Mass in the Basilica of Guadalupe, the following day. With the passing of the giant of our time in boxing attention now turns on whether his son Mauricio, the executive director of the WBC will succeed his late father.
Obviously seeking to get over the grief of his father?s passing, Mauricio has been reluctant to discuss the possibility of succession.
BoxingScene.com quoted Mauricio who said ?truthfully it does not interest me. I stood by my father and worked with him in boxing. Everything that people saw that I did was on the orders of my father, a great generator of ideas who was always thinking of ways to innovate.?
Mauricio Sulaiman added that the WBC is a very solid organization and has ?a lot of people who atre able to drive it. WBC will be different and hopefully even better. It must run its course and we?ll see what happens.?
Sulaiman who handled the last Convention in Bangkok was commended for the manner in which he did the job and there are those who have indicated he would be a worthy successor to his late father, Don Jose Sulaiman.
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