WBC to look at hosting convention in SA again, says president Sulaiman

World Boxing Council (WBC) president Mauricio Sulaiman says he is considering holding his organisation’s annual convention in SA again, last held in the country in 1998.

He said on Thursday, after a meeting with sports minister Gayton McKenzie on Wednesday night, that they had made a “few friendly commitments with a handshake”.

Discussions included the convention and putting on a national tournament similar to the Riyadh Season grand prix that was held at various stages last year, said Sulaiman.

“We agreed on the possibility of bringing the WBC convention back to South Africa — that was a very emotional moment — and we agreed on potentially putting on a national tournament of boxing, like we did with the grand prix in Saudi Arabia.

“We’re going to work on putting together a concept, a model for a national tournament for South Africa,” Sulaiman said at a function held by Boxing South Africa (BSA) at the Nelson Mandela Foundation headquarters in Johannesburg.

The WBC staged its first convention in Johannesburg in 1998, when the organisation was headed by Sulaiman’s late father, Jose, who outlawed apartheid-SA from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s.

The WBC is widely considered the most prestigious of the four main world-sanctioning bodies, but its titles have proved the most elusive for South African fighters, with only three champions to date.

“Sugar Boy” Malinga and Dingaan Thobela both succeeded at super-middleweight, with Kevin Lerena being the latest, holding the bridgerweight strap.

Sulaiman is in the country for the WBC minimumweight title fight between Filipino champion Melvin Jerusalem and South African challenger Siyakholwa Kuse at Emperors Palace on Saturday.

BSA chair Ayanda Khumalo called on Sulaiman for a co-operative agreement between her regulatory body and his organisation.

“The absence of a formal, structural linkage between our national rankings and a formal sanctioning body like the WBC limits upward mobility for our boxers,” she said. “We yearn for a day when winning a national title translates into automatic recognition in the WBC rankings, a conversation we hope you will be willing to explore with us.”

During the late 1970s the South African commission enjoyed a close relationship with the World Boxing Association — the only other sanctioning body at the time — which saw many national champions getting ranked.

That resulted in a proliferation of world title opportunities for local boxers, but the preference ended after the WBA restricted South African participation in the mid-1980s.

Sulaiman also held a question-and-answer session with attendees, who included promoters wanting to find ways of paying lower sanctioning fees and other costs around staging WBC title bouts.

One trainer asked about a coaching collaboration with Mexican fighters to help cope with the difference in fighting styles.

Sulaiman offered a couple of suggestions, including sending a Mexican trainer to South African gyms for a month or so.

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