Canelo Alvarez & Jose Sulaiman (2013)
WBC PRESIDENT NEVER RECOVERED FROM HEART SURGERY
Los Angeles, CA– Although the family had been guarded in discussing the physical condition of the World Boxing Council President, I was under the impression that he had run his last race seeing he was transferred to one of those “nursing home” like facilities from the UCLA Medical Center. And when Don Jose Sulaiman, that’s what I called him, hadn’t gotten out of this place four months after Heart Surgery, I had a sick feeling about it. Today Jose Sulaiman Chargon “left the building of life” at the age of 82 in Los Angeles.
SULAIMAN ONCE TOP 3 IN BOXING POWER STRUCTURE
His family ran a multi- million dollar business in Mexico. But his love was always boxing. Admittedly he was not a ring wizard as an amateur and instead became a member of the local San Luis Potosí Boxing Commission at the tender age of 16. He promoted, judged and refereed at one point and time. Sulaiman was so powerful, so much control that he directed fighters to work with Don King, Alexis Arquello for one. But with that wrong came a big right when Sulaiman, after listening to Alexis say he, “Wanted to die” after grabbing the phone from his wife’s hands, this while she was live on my show “Ring Talk Worldwide.”
STEPPED IN WITH BLANK CHECK FOR ALEXIS
Calling Sulaiman on the aforementioned mandate he had imposed on Alexis, he told me, “Whatever the cost,
Jose Sulaiman (Circa 1970)
you get Alexis and his entire family, get them to San Francisco and Alexis into Re Hab. So I flew to Managua, Nicaragua, something I don’t write a lot about because some of it was disturbing, especially in the manner of his death. When I told Sulaiman that we were looking at $40 grand or more to get Alexis, two kids and a wife to San Francisco for an extended Re Hab, he said fine but Alexis refused he had a problem with Crack.
NOBODY KNEW JOSE TOOK CARE OF RETIRED FIGHTERS
Warriors like the Cuban great “Kid” Gavilan, I found out Sulaiman was paying his rent and more in Miami for years. There were other fighters whom Sulaiman and the WBC were said to be offering monthly financial assistance. And there was the time in Aruba when he gave a waitress in the coffee shop that had taken care of the WBC Medical Congress a $100 bill. Making like $100 a week, the lady teared up because it wasn’t like he wasn’t tipping her well all week already.
AND THEN CAME DISASTER!
Having warned Sulaiman not to do so, he unrecognized Graciano Rocchigiani as light heavyweight champ and simply gave the title to Roy Jones. But it was his performance in the lawsuit Graciano filed in which Sulaiman was charged with Contempt of Court a mere 24 times equaling $24 million in Punitive Damages. Many longtime WBC figures jumped the boat before the case was even filed. The financial award was later adjusted during negotiations from $32 million to an unknown figure.
LEGACY OF JOSE SULAIMAN IS 15 TO 12 ROUNDS
Although he kept citing Medical Evidence I never really interpreted it as saying 15 round fights are barbaric and leave a man more likely to suffer serious injury and or death. On the flip side of the coin, Ron Marshall, California based Boxing Historian thinks Sulaiman ruined boxing and is of the opinion that Sulaiman felt the other sanctioning bodies were gaining ground on the WBC, thus he invented the 12 round fight because it could fit in a one hour block of television.
JACK NEWFIELD WROTE JOSE WAS KING’S CO-PARTNER
Author Jack Newfield pulled no punches when writing about Sulaiman being Don King’s jr. partner, while others implicated he was the Wizard behind the curtain, the quasi manager of both Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Ricardo Lopez.
EVERY TIME I SAW HIM HE WAS GOING ON A DIET!
Short and heavy, Jose had a great smile and i believe became a more humble man in the last few years as he saw the sand escaping through the hourglass of life. He could speak Spanish, English, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and French. In closing, love, like, or despise him, Jose Sulaiman was a major force in boxing for most of his 39 years as head of the WBC. Our condolences to the Sulaiman family. Services will occur after Jose is flown back to Mexico City. From a not so-successful amateur boxer to one of the most powerful people in the sport, Jose Sulaiman, Rest in Peace!
Pedro Fernandez