By Miguel Rivera

The president of the World Boxing Council (WBC), Mauricio Sulaiman, highlighted what he experienced in the world of pugilism in 2017, and he's sure that better things will come in 2018.

From the fights that the fans wanted, like the long awaited showdown between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and the middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, the return of Floyd Mayweather before Conor McGregor, and the rise of female boxing.

"It was a great year, we had enough activity to fill three or four years. We were in Uruguay, in Rome with Pope Francisco, the two Huichol belts were made, we were in the Mayweather-McGregor fight, the Women's Diamond flyweight bout, it has been a incredibly active year," Sulaiman said.

Regarding the current Mexican boxing scene, he commented that a great year is closed with the champions like Luis "Pantera" Nery, Rey Vargas, Miguel "Alacran" Berchelt, Mikey Garcia, Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez and David Benavidez.

"The WBC is closing the year with Berchelt, Rey Vargas, Nery, Benavidez, Mikey Garcia, we have a great quality of champions, I'm happy," Sulaiman said.

"The fight between Juan Francisco Estrada and Srisaket Sister Rungvisai, who will fight for the WBC super flyweight title on February 24, right now I can say that it will be a candidate for fight of the year and the rematch between Luis Nery and (Shinsuke) Yamanaka is closed for March, in Japan, it seems that on March 4."

In the near year, the WBC will continue to combat illegal drug use with their Clean Boxing Program.

"It's dangerous to use performance enhancing drugs, because boxing is not a game," Sulaiman said.

Sulaiman also discussed how Mexico has hosted important sporting events throughout the year, such as the Formula One Grand Prix, NBA games, NFL games and golf tournaments, among others, and he assured that a major fight is needed in the country's capital.

He would love for the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin to land in Mexico. Golovkin recently visited the country to take part in several charity efforts with the WBC, and he made it clear that he would love the opportunity to fight Canelo in Mexico.

The fight is being negotiated for May 5, Cinco De Mayo weekend.

"I think the Mexico City Arena would be the perfect scenario for that fight," said Sulaiman said.