The World Boxing Council (WBC)

When Kelly Pavlik won the world middleweight title in 2007, Mauricio Sulaiman, the Executive Secretary of the World Boxing Council and son of its long-standing President, stopped by after the fight to request that Pavlik part with the trunks he wore during the fight. Pavlik refused, and rightly so: he had just won the title by knockout in those blood-stained trunks, and boxing memorabilia experts later estimated their value at $25,000. But Mauricio Sulaiman turned on the pressure, suggesting how hard or easy the WBC could make Pavlik's career. Mind you, it is illegal under Federal law for an official from a group like the WBC to receive anything from a fighter except their sanctioning fee, but that didn't matter to Mauricio Sulaiman, who left with the trunks, but by then word had spread of what was going on, attracting much negative attention, and forcing Sulaiman to back down. He returned the trunks, but Mauricio and his Dad eventually got their money. When Pavlik met former champ Jermain Taylor, it was at 166lbs instead of the middleweight limit of 160lbs, so no title belts were on the line. However, the WBC demanded and got a $25,000 sanctioning fee, despite the plain fact that doing so was against their own rules.

This kind of scandalous extortion is typical of the sordid history of the WBC, the sanctioning body that is at the same time the most prestigious and the most tainted in professional boxing.

The First Truly International Group

The WBC was created in 1963 when boxing officials from 11 different countries met at the invitation of the President of Mexico to create a new organization to regulate the expansion of international professional boxing. At the time, "world titles" and rankings were issued by regional or even local organizations. The most respected world championships were issued by the National Boxing Association (later to become the World Boxing Association) and the New York State Athletic Commission (New York City being the big money venue for boxing at the time), with the most respected rankings being issued by The Ring magazine. The other purpose of the WBC was to promote truly international recognition for non-American fighters, particularly those in the lighter weight divisions from Latin America and Asia who could only make truly big money fighting in the United States.

Started with a laudable purpose, the WBC was a reasonably positive presence in professional boxing for several years. The organization's slide into becoming one of the worst influences in the sport began with the election of Jose Sulaiman as President in 1975. Sulaiman has been the WBC President ever since, with the once international non-profit organization functioning now de facto as Sulaiman's private company.

For a review of what a sanctioning body like the WBC does in professional boxing, please see my article on the World Boxing Association.

Bosom Buddies: Sulaiman and Don King

Sulaiman was not in office for very long before he started bending rules and rigging rankings to benefit rising promoter and former Cleveland street hustler and numbers man Don King. Over the years, Sulaiman has come to be viewed as essentially a minion of Don King, with British promoter Mickey Duff famously declaring "My complaint is that Jose Sulaiman is not happy his friend Don King is the biggest promoter in boxing. Sulaiman will only be happy when Don King is the only promoter in boxing." The relationship was parodied by Cheech Marin and Samuel L. Jackson in the 1996 film The Great White Hype.

The first big favor Sulaiman did for King came in 1978. Leon Spinks had just won the undisputed world heavyweight crown from Muhammad Ali, and the WBC's #1 contender was the Don King-promoted Ken Norton. Spinks balked at fighting Norton, preferring a more lucrative rematch with Ali. The WBC rightly stripped Spinks of their belt, but then simply gave it to Norton, declaring his match with Jimmy Young to decide who would be the #1 contender a retroactive championship. The act was so bizarre no sanctioning organization, not even the WBC, has repeated it. Furthermore, the WBC went on to sanction Norton's first defense against another Don King-promoted fighter, Larry Holmes. This fracturing of the world heavyweight title began the modern era of multiple world champions, each with their own belt.

Later, when Buster Douglas famously upset Mike Tyson by knockout, King arranged for the WBC and WBA to both withhold recognition of Douglas for a time, claiming that an earlier knockdown of Douglas was actually a legal knockout because of a "long count." Only the general outrage at so ridiculous an act forced the WBC to back down; otherwise they would have stripped Douglas of the title and simply given it back to Tyson.

Sulaiman's rankings decisions over the years have been questionable to say the least. When Mike Tyson was released from prison, he instantly became the WBC's #1 contender, despite having been inactive for almost four years. Recently, when Vitali Klitschko announced his return to boxing after an almost two year retirement, the WBC similarly installed him as the #1 contender. Perhaps a ranking in the Top 5 could be justified for a comebacking, high-profile fighter after a long lay-off, but the #1 contender is the mandatory challenger for the title, and typically that slot must be earned in an elimination bout. While simply giving it to a fighter is not strictly against the rules, Sulaiman's judgment in who should be given such a preference has been questionable to say the least.

In an example of the WBC's continuing close relationship with Don King and its ongoing unsavory reputation, during the March 2008 bout between Oleg Maskaev and Sam Peter for the WBC's heavyweight title, Maskaev's complained "There's no doubt, that with the WBC picking the officials, the cards are stacked against us." He was directly referring to the selection of Japan's Ken Morita as a judge; Morita infamously had Tyson ahead of Douglas on his scorecard, even though Douglas was beating Tyson from pillar to post en route to a knockout victory. The makings of a stinky decision are often found in the selection of judges like Morita, who know who butters their bread and gets them well-reimbursed assignments.

The WBC Nearly Destroyed

As the extortion with Kelly Pavlik reveals, Jose Sulaiman is something of a bully, and like most bullies doesn't recognize his limits until he gets burned. In 1998, Sulaiman badly overreached himself and the WBC was nearly destroyed as a result.

The stage was set when Roy Jones, Jr. announced he was giving up his WBC title. The WBC properly ordered a bout for the vacant title, which was held in March 1998 between the German Graciano Rocchigiani and Jones's predecessor for the WBC light heavyweight title, Michael Nunn. Rocchigiani won that fight and became the WBC light heavyweight champion. In the meantime, Jones changed his mind and asked the WBC if he could have his belt back. Amazingly, the WBC complied, gave Jones the title, and informed Rocchigiani that his becoming champion was a mere "typographical error." The WBC violated many of their own regulations in doing this, so Rocchigiani took his very strong case to court. In 2003, he won his case, with a US Federal Court awarding the German contender $30 million.

The WBC immediately sought protection from Rocchigiani by declaring bankruptcy, and then spent the next year trying to negotiate a much lower, six figure settlement. When those negotiations stalled, the WBC took steps to liquidate themselves. With Rocchigiani pushing the WBC out of existence, some in the boxing community persuaded him to back off and accept a settlement. One wonders if Rocchigiani did his sport any favors by backing down. Destroying the WBC in pursuit of Rocchigiani's $30 million would have eliminated one of the four "alphabet soup" sanctioning bodies, simplifying the world title picture and reversing the ongoing trend towards more alphabet soup organizations. It also would have sent a powerful message that there is only so much corruption someone can get away with, even in professional boxing.

The Most Prestigious of the "Alphabet Soups"

The green championship belt of the WBC is paradoxically the most prized of four major world title belts. The WBC has done some good for boxing, even under Sulaiman's nefarious tenure. In 1983, the WBC unilaterally declared that their world title bouts would henceforth be 12 rounds, not the then-standard 15. This was instituted as a safety measure, and is now standard in world championship boxing.

However, what has made the WBC's reputation are the many great fighters who have held the WBC title and defended it in thrilling bouts, starting with Larry Holmes vs. Ken Norton in 1978. Holmes defended the WBC title many times as the leading heavyweight of his day, discarding it only when he finally broke with Jose Sulaiman's ally Don King. Other champions who became identified with their WBC belt were Wilfredo Benetiz, Sugar Ray Leonard, Julio Cesar Chavez, Hector Camacho, Erik Morales, and Lennox Lewis.

Sources: Only in America, Secondsout.com, WBC website