In the world there are men who leave a permanent mark in their passage through life. Beings who fight to help the sport of their passion and the athletes who practice it. One of them was undoubtedly Don José Sulaimán, Don José or El Tío Pepe, as some journalists called him.mos.
By Rodolfo Rosales S.
In the world there are men who leave a permanent mark in their passage through life. Beings who fight to help the sport of their passion and the athletes who practice it. One of them was undoubtedly Don José Sulaimán, Don José or El Tío Pepe, as some journalists called him.mos.
This January 16 marks the sixth anniversary of his death, but his pro-boxing ideals are still alive in the person of his children, especially Mauricio Sulaimán, current president of the World Boxing Council.
Since he assumed the presidency of the WBC, in 1975, Don José set himself three clear objectives: That Mexican boxers have greater opportunities to dispute world championships, protect the physical integrity of boxers in the world and maintain a very close relationship with reporters. from the boxing fountain.
Thus, before establishing Coffee Tuesdays, he met once a month with the Mexican press at the Sanborns in the Zona Rosa.a.
In those meetings, journalists with a great career, forged on the battlefield, of those who went to the gyms every day for the daily story and who did not miss the boxing arenas to cover the functions, gathered.s.
People like Jorge Monroy, Antonio Hernández, Juan García, José Luis Camarillo, Alberto Reyes Arvizu, Carlos Rivero, Armando Zenteno and Marco Polo Aguilar, among others, sat down with Don José to share bread and salt, but also analyzed the fights. most important of the month They were very constructive quotes.
It was the mid-eighties and the new blood of boxing journalism, like Daniel Esparza, and yours truly (Rodolfo Rosales), came cold turkey to learn.
With an affable voice and look, Don José always had special treatment for us and, yes, it is true, we had differences, but they were always fixed. Because he always had the decency to answer the calls we made to him and that at that time the cell phone had not yet arrived.
Whether it was in his capacity as president of the WBC and then also as president of the Boxing Commission of the Federal District, Don José always had the courage to leave no questions unanswered, he was like a boxer who loved to exchange blows and never he shunned combat.
Christmas was a sacred date to spend time with journalists, whether it was through a soccer game, including a lodging for our children, and later food and gifts.
Today, six years after his departure, he is not left to be missed, because his gift with people was enormous, always willing to listen and support.
He was a friend of many and very few did not share his thoughts, but one thing is certain, boxing became more human during the almost 40 years that he was in charge of the World Boxing Council.
The main contributions that Don José made to boxing were:
- Reduction of WBC title fights from 15 to 12 rounds in 1983.
- Enforce the use of the fourth rope in the ring to avoid possible head injuries to boxers.
- Official weigh-in ceremony one day before the fight.
- Eliminated the use of the six-ounce fight gloves.
- Mandatory life insurance in fights sanctioned by the WBC.
- Implemented the attached thumb glove.
- Don José was married to Mrs. Marta Saldívar, with whom he had six children: Héctor, José, Fernando, Lucy, Mauricio and Claudia.
