By Miguel Rivera
Earlier today, the President of the World Boxing Council (WBC), Jose Sulaiman, stayed firm on his demand for Saul "Canelo" Alvarez to drop one of his two junior middleweight titles. Canelo, who holds the WBC title at 154, captured the championship of the World Boxing Association (WBA) with a twelve round decision over Austin Trout on April 20th. On Tuesday morning Canelo traveled to Panama and met with WBA Vice President Gilberto Mendoza, who officially presented the Mexican superstar with his title belt. Sulaiman is going to give Canelo four to five days to make a decision.
"I think that there is nothing wrong with Canelo going to Panama to receive his WBA belt because he won it in the ring. The World Boxing Council, in its rules, forbids a champion to keep two belts at the same time. We approved the fight between Canelo and Trout, based on the condition that the winner would make a decision on which belt he was dropping in fifteen days. The WBA, their president Gilberto Mendoza is a great friend of mine. I saw Canelo receive his belt [after beating Trout] and he gave it to his brother. And he said [he was giving it to his brother Rigoberto Alvarez] on television. And I had no doubt with which samctioning body he was going to stay with," Sulaiman said.
"We only accept unification fights when the winner drops one of the titles. If you leave us, no problem. Then the title becomes vacant and we will draw another winner. If you stay with us, we are proud of that. In the case of Canelo, I have a lot of love, affection and respect for him. I've seen him grow from the time he was fighting on the sandstones of nightclubs. And I've pushed him all of my life. I've been the first , and sometimes the only one who defended him against the many attacks he has had. I've always said that I consider him to be the strongest WBC champion at the present, with the exception of [Floyd] Mayweather and [Vitali] Klitschko. Aside from that, I'm very proud of Canelo Alvarez for what he's become."
"He has to give us his decision in the next four or five days. I think he is going to stay within the World Boxing Council and I will respect him for that, and I also respect the WBA. If Saul does not stay with the World Boxing Council, it will be one of the saddest days of my life."
