THE SQUARE RING Jan. 17 , 2014 By James Wellington Jeeves III VISIT keepboxing & Brookies Sports Bureau , Phuket Thailand A GIANT PASSES In sport the New Year always brings with it a mixed bag. There’s hope for the future, the desire for improvement and like life sometimes sadness. Just 17 days into 2014 boxing received a punch to the gut when Don José Sulaimán Chagnón expired at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Las Angeles at the age of 82. As the President of the World Boxing Council Dr. Sulaimán ruled with a velvet voice and an iron fist for 38 years. His critics would question almost everything he did which is understandable as that’s what critics do. Ricky Nelson sang in Garden Party, “You can’t please everyone , so ya got to please yourself.” There can be no doubt that Dr. Sulaimán lived by those 10 words. It was written, more than once, that Dr. Sulaimán ruled the WBC like a “small time” Dictator. There was nothing “small time” about Dr. Sulaimán. Anyone with any knowledge of the professional boxing game knows that the failure to rule without strength would be like herding a pack of cats. Dr. Sulaimán took over the WBC when boxing was reeling in American from the effects of fixed matches arranged by guy’s with catchy nicknames with last names that ended in vowels. He took the sport out of the gutter by the scruff neck, slapped it on the ass, combed its’ hair and tied its’ tie. Did he do this with just a wave of his wand ? Of course not. He did it with the help of his loyal followers. His loyal followers knew that their loyalty would be returned to them with interest. Stories abound in WBC circles of judges and referee’s that got major assignments as a repayment for loyalty. He was thin-skinned to the extent that if he felt the slightest personal or professional slight the offender would become a “non-person”. He demanded that you either be a WBC person or a non-person. It was up to you. His acts of personal kindness were well known. He spoke with a soft “old world” voice as smooth as syrup. Many times he would preface one of his sometimes long winded convention speeches with the phrase , “Please excuse me because I don’t speak English too well.” The first time I heard that praise I was sitting with the late boxing judge Carol Castillano. “He speaks English perfectly.” Carol was a proud Dr. Sulaimán loyalist. He repaid this loyalty upon her death by ensuring that her devastated husband Tony got boxing assignments. This while his home association, the Nevada Athletic Commission, turn their backs on him. Tony would die of a broken heart shortly after Carol. They were his children. Those that mistook his quiet demeanor as weakness would find that his actions had the cutting edge of a Toledo Blade. A very propionate Hall of Fame boxing referee was a WBC guy. He committed the ultimate transgression by excepting an assignment with an rival sanctioning organization. His explanations fell on deaf ears. Overnight he became a “non-person”. Born in 1931 in Cuidad Victoria, Mexico of immigrant parents he played and enjoyed all sports. As he grew boxing became his true passion. He would put on the gloves as a boxer, then a promoter, a manager , and official before joining the fledging world boxing council in 1968. He became El President of the WBC in 1975. A hack could write, “The rest his history”. Dr. Sulaimán was anything but a hack. It can truly be written that once God made him the mold was broken. Don Jose Sulaimán was a man of principles, with a code of standards and above all a heart that honestly cared about his fellow man. The boxers of the WBC were his family. His children. As with anyone that takes stances he became an easy target for critics. He sometimes bent rules to assist a boxer on the way down as he did with Julio Caesar Chávez. He could and did rationalize his action as saying “Thank you to a great champions and a hero to the Mexican people”. He had no trouble injecting the WBC into affairs that on the surface no connection to boxing. He jumped in with both feet into the Arizona immigration situation. He decreed that there would be no WBC sanctioned bouts in that state until they chanced their stance on immigration. At the time the WBC hadn’t had a WBC Championship fight in years with none on the horizon. No singles person in the last 35 years has had the impact on any sport the way Dr. Sulaimán effected boxing. His organization establish a brain research program at UCLA to study the effects of boxing. This was eons before the NFL which just now getting around to study the problem. Dr. Sulaimán and the WBC were always at the forefront when the call went out of charitable giving. When Dr. Sulaimán was indicted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007 the respect he was held in the boxing community was on display. World Boxing Association President Gilberto Mendoza spoke for the boxing community when he said, ““Don Jose is a man from whom we have all learned a great deal. He is to be respected and admired for the work he has done in boxing.” Dr. Jose Sulaimán was a man of principle a rare quality in boxing. He was a man that was usually two or three steps ahead of the competition. He was separated from the pack by his ability to lead the pack. The late Basketball coach Jimmy Valvano in a famous speech said, “There are three things we all should do every day. You should laugh, think, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, thats a full day”. Valvano might have been describing the life and times of Dr. Jose Sulaimán. Valvano ended his speech with “Don’t give up…don’t ever give up.” Valvano would die of cancer a short time later. Only those closest to Dr. Sulaimán would know if he laughed every day but surely he smiled that soft warm smile . He was always thinking about the future of boxing, his children and his country. He carried his emotions in his heart. His history would dictate that he “never” gave up. In the end with a mind still willing he heart finally gave out. RIP Dr. Jose Sulaimán as the bell tolls for you.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 22:49:23 +0000
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