Mauricio Sulaiman Q&A: 'If there's a time to be united, it's now'

BANGKOK – Mauricio Sulaiman knows the benefits of diplomacy perhaps better than anyone in the sport of boxing.

Whether it’s managing hostile contenders impatiently rushing for title shots, smiling through questions over the need for 3% sanctioning fees or calming the controversies that cross his desk routinely, Sulaiman’s disarming efforts marked by attempts at transparency have kept the Mexico-based World Boxing Council long previously ruled by his father, Jose, ranked as the standard-bearer among the four major sanctioning bodies.

But now, Sulaiman is confronting a new business not moved by his charms, unwilling to hear him out and actually pursuing plans to render his belts meaningless.

At the September Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford undisputed super-middleweight fight in Las Vegas, new boxing promoter Dana White of Zuffa Boxing made Sulaiman twist all fight week over whether the WBC president would be permitted in the ring to present the winner (Crawford) his belt while Sulaiman’s peers weren’t even sure they had a ticket as the preliminary bouts were underway.

White is plotting in his new promotion to present his own belts and rank the fighters in his organization as he does in the UFC, casting the WBC and the fellow sanctioning bodies as contributors to the sport’s demise.

On Sunday evening here, Sulaiman opened the WBC Convention by greeting champion fighters of the past, current boxers including the great women’s champion Katie Taylor and hundreds of other power players, officials and authorities at a tenuous hour.

Now, more than ever, federal regulations ensuring fighter-pay transparency are being threatened by his new entity, with Sulaiman well aware that White is a close friend of President Trump, who has the Republican-controlled Congress poised to alter the way belts and rankings are decided while also moving to restrict financial disclosures.

Zuffa Boxing, according to boxing sources familiar with the situation, have said they’d like the federal regulations in place before opening for business on Paramount+, which, for now, is next month.

Now, more than ever, fighters want to know what the sanctioning bodies are doing for them.

So Sulaiman has come here prepared to deliver, reminding that boxing functions best as a free enterprise that allows the fighters to pursue – without company control – their maximum income.

He has no other person to point to than his countryman and four-division champion Alvarez,who is moving closer to becoming a billionaire.

During the convention, Sulaiman will detail his push to move fighters toward the WBC’s new retirement assistance plan while also positioning to prod boxing’s established promoters and managers to participate in rugged bouts thanks to the rankings and mandatory-contender process.

BoxingScene is attending the WBC Convention, and met with Sulaiman minutes after his poolside speech to attendees for a question-and-answer session.

BoxingScene: This comes at a time when you’re trying to make the point that sanctioning bodies and belts matter. How imperative is it to get this point across at this convention?    

Mauricio Sulaiman: If there’s a time to be united, it’s now. There’s confusion around the world. There’s movements being made. There’s anarchy. There’s sides trying to confuse and shake things that aren’t needed to be. The WBC is a very solid organization, and we can only be concerned with what we do. What others want to do we cannot be concerned with. What we do, we do it the best way possible because we do it for the fighters – before, during and after their careers.This is the WBC, unity from all around the world to make boxing safer, stronger and better.

BS: One of the things you’ve long advocated is to take care of yourself and your fans as they age. Are you convinced this can work? And what are the principles of the plan?

MS: Absolutely. Basically, we want every fighter to have a retirement plan. We will educate the fighters. We will deliver them products to save money, to have life insurance, to have a link to their retirement. This is a must, and I am convinced it can be followed in other sports – the NFL, baseball, soccer. So many players all around the world end up without money after a short career.

BS: Your diplomatic efforts in many cases have paid dividends during your time as president, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears with White. Have you tried to do that, to build a bridge?

MS: I met Dana White many years ago, and I sent him a text a couple years ago. We have not spoken since. I have absolutely nothing against him and what they’re trying to do [to invest in boxing]. But the problems they’re coming out too aggressive, too arrogant and saying they will not work with anybody. That’s their problem. If they’re able to change the laws in the United States and make this UFC of boxing legally, that is their issue. We will continue to do what we do. We did a press release welcoming them to boxing, but there’s no one entity who can control a worldwide sport. The form they are trying to do it is incorrect.

BS: Will Zuffa Boxing attract boxers despite moving to abolish some of the federal regulations’ principles?

MS: Boxers are smart. And there are great promoters around the world and in the United States. The U.S. is the No. 1 country for boxing. No one can come in and overpower the will of the fighter, who has come out of the streets to become someone in life. It works best for the fighter to be in a free market with no conflict of interest. How can you be the manager, the promoter, the trainer, the belt and everything? It simply does not work this way. This is why the WBC was formed in 1963 – to establish direct lines that cannot be crossed between the administrative side and the business side of the sport.”

BS: What does it say to you that heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, undisputed women’s champion Katie Taylor, three-division champion Devin Haney and other contenders have gravitated here to support the WBC?
MS: I’m just overwhelmed, so happy, so proud to see the family all gather around. The WBC is as strong as ever.

BS: You have some important decisions to make regarding your rankings and mandatory challengers, moves that can prod promoters to make better fights. How important is it to get this part so right, especially in this year?
MS: We’ll have good mandatories, championship fights, title defenses. We won’t force a fight that is not worth it. We will not mandate a defense by a challenger who is not worthy of the champion.

BS: One of those cases is with unbeaten 154lbs interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jnr. He wants a title shot, with champion Sebastian Fundora wearing the belt. Will that bout occur in 2026?
MS: [The Ortiz camp] was claiming they wanted that, but now they’ve been quiet, so let’s see what happens. [Ortiz] can fight the winner of [the early 2026 fight] Fundora-[Keith] Thurman. That’s what we are going to order.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.