WBC – Dec. 16, 2014 – Convention Day 2

R.I.P. – WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán – 1931-2014

 

 

Las Vegas – December 16, 2014

The second day of the World Boxing Council’s 52^nd annual convention was devoted mostly to ratings, which will available soon.

 

 

In his opening comments, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said, “The conventions are always the most important moment of the year for the WBC. Here is where the WBC Board and Committees meet. Each one reviews what it has been doing and if its plans and goals were met, and we plan for the next year. All of the very important decisions and changes of the rules and organization have taken place during the conventions.

 

“We appreciate very much all of the promoters and managers that are here for this session. All of the ring officials are in another room doing their seminars, and there are other workshops going on. This morning, we are going to have a ratings review, and there will be a couple of presentations.”

 

WBC Ratings Committee:

 

Mauricio Sulaiman WBC President

Frank Quill (Australia) Chairman

Luis Medina (México) Secretary

Mauro Betti (Italy)

Victor Cota (Mexico)

Mikhail Denisov (Russia)

Alberto Guerra (Panama)

Nicolas Hidalgo (Venezuela)

Dean Lohuis (USA)

Ken Morita (Japan)

Ed Pearson (Canada)

Carlos Rodriguez (Argentina)

Peter Stucki (Switzerland)

Edward Thangarajah (Thailand)

Daniel Van De Wiele (Belgium)

Robert Yalen (USA)

 

 

Fighter representatives and fighters who participated in the ratings meeting included, in alphabetical order: Rodney Berman, Eric Bottjer, Alex Camponovo, Abraham Darwish, Robert Diaz, Philippe Fondu, Che Guevara, Rahilou Abdul Ilah, Sampson Lewkowicz, Don Majeski, Leon Margules, Barry Michael, Takashi Misako, Jolene Mizzone, Pat Nelson, Ken Porter, Shawn Porter,Edgardo Rosani, Tarik Saadi, Anthony Sands, Gary Shaw, Shingo Suzuki, Alex Vaysfeld, Chauncey Welliver, and Peter Zwennes.

 

President Sulaiman said, “The WBC has reached an agreement with an organization named VADA, which is a different testing from the regular after-the-fight test, which is used only for the fight. The VADA program with the WBC intends to test throughout the year in a random way. There is a universe of fighters who are within the Top 15 and champions who are eligible for this testing. It’s random, and we’re going to conduct training and certification throughout the convention. This process is starting, we’re going to take steps and once again, with this agreement with VADA, boxing is leading the other sports for a problem that we have.”

 

Margaret Goodman, M.D, President and Board Chairman of VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, addressed the morning assembly. She said [excerpts], “Thank you for inviting us here today, Mauricio. I’m so honored to be a part of this. I started in boxing in 1993, and it was a big night for me last night because I saw some of the fighters I had examined to determine their fitness to box, likeTommy Hearns. It was a great, great honor, and I loved Don José so much, so it is amazing to me to be a part of this.

 

“Several months ago, Duane Ford, who has been a wonderful friend and a mentor to me through the years when I worked as a ring physician, invited us to the NABF convention, where we gave a short presentation on performance-enhancing drugs, and Mauricio was there. I was amazed when Mauricio sat down with me and said, ‘Margaret, one of the most important things we need to do is to stop the use of performance-enhancing drugs in our sport.’

 

“I started to pay attention to this about three years ago, when I was still writing for The Ring magazine. I would talk to fighters in the gym, fighters would call me up and I would interview them, and I would find out the prevalence of this problem. There’s lots of things that are momentous in boxing. When we started doing MRI studies and neurological exams of fighters, that was important. But I think this is going to surpass just about everything that we have all tried to do, because this speaks at the heart of fair, clean sport, and that’s what we all want for the safety of the fighters.

 

“As I mentioned, I was a ring physician from 1994 to 2005. I was chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission Medical Advisory Board until 2007. Ryan Connolly, our Chief Legal Counsel with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association started with us when we put this together in 2011. Ryan has been an anti-doping legal attorney for 15 years. He was the business director and started UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab with Dr. Don Catlin, who will mention, as well.

 

“I think when we discuss this, we’ll see how unprecedented this is and how this will really change the sport. The main problem is that when testing is performed, in most instances, it’s done after the fight. Sometimes it’s done at the weigh-in, but it’s done in a very close relationship to the fight. Often, it’s only the championship fighters that are tested. The panels that are used, that we spoke about earlier, don’t include all the anabolic agents. There is almost no unannounced random testing. Now, I know in Great Britain they do some and some of the other countries, and that is fabulous, but in the United States it’s almost never done and in a lot of other places it’s never done.

 

“It’s funny. I remember when I started working fights and I would talk to fighters and they weren’t that savvy, because people wouldn’t talk to them. But trust me, they know about all of this. They know about all of it, in some respects, as well as I do.

 

“The most important thing we can proceed to do is to add new testing. The program that the WBC has designed with us – that obviously, we’re going to proceed ahead and get more information with the legal department and get it all delineated – is first, community outreach. We talked with Mauricio about going to the gyms – the gyms in Mexico, the gyms in the United States, and the schools. Recent studies have shown in the United States that up to seven percent of boys, median average age 15, have used anabolic steroids already. Some of them start at age 10. Girls, it’s up to five percent.

 

“Secondly, what we have talked about with the WBC and what we are now working on is an online tutorial for fighters and trainers, and you will also have complete access. This will be a web-based program for everyone to learn about performance-enhancing drugs and supplements, so that the fighters know what this program is about, and they will learn what the side-effects of these substances are. This is totally unprecedented, and will be available to all of the fighters all over the world.”

 

It was announced that long-time WBC Convention Chairman Chuck Williams was elected to the WBC Board of Governors.

 

An award was presented to Lo Mejor de Boxeo’s Juan Carlos Tapia for his outstanding contributions to boxing. Mauricio Sulaiman said, “Mr. Juan Carlos Tapia is a person who has been dedicated to bring to the fans a program named Lo Mejor de Boxeo [The Best of Boxing]. This program started 40 years ago, and he has not stopped it for one single week. He has brought in internet services, television, videos, and DVDs. Mr. Tapia is one of the great persons who have made contributions to the sport of boxing through professional and very conscious positive journalism. I would like everybody to recognize Mr. Tapia.”

 

Boxrec.com’s Marina Sheppard gave a presentation of new features that Boxrec is developing, which include a section rating the competitiveness of matchups and a mobile app.

 

 

Former WBC featherweight and two-time super featherweight world champion and 2004 International Boxing Hall of Fame inducteeAzumah Nelson addressed the assembly and said, “It feels great to be a champion, but it feels greater when you use your position to support the less-privileged. This morning I present to you my biography titled, ‘The Professor.’ I encourage you to get a copy to know my story. The proceeds will benefit the needy children back home in my country, Ghana. Thank you very much.”

 

(Left: Roberto Duran, in cap, talks to Mauricio Sulaiman)

 

Former four-division world champion – which included the WBC lightweight, welterweight and middleweight world championships – and 2007 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Roberto Duran spoke in Spanish to the assembly, translated by Mauricio Sulaiman. He said, “First of all, I am very happy to be here. I was not aware that there was going to be a tribute to your father, José Sulaiman. I saw you working and people were discussing how you were doing, so I think you had a very good school from your father. I’m very happy to be here with the WBC. I’m a very proud member of the WBC – I was a champion of the WBC, and champion of the ‘other.’ I’m happy to see you and Gilberto Mendoza of the WBA being dear friends and brothers, but if you lay a hand on Mendoza, you’re much bigger so you would knock him out.”