WBC FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY!
24.04 - From WBC President Jose Sulaiman: "Because of circumstances beyond the control of the World Boxing Council, the WBC, which has Executive Offices in Mexico City, in the country of residency of its President, regrets to inform that the organization has filed a petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the bankruptcy court in Puerto Rico, with whose guidance and direction the WBC will work in its reorganization efforts to resolve the different problems that it is encountering today.
"The above will not affect in the least the great world champions holding WBC titles, or any promotion or promoter organizing world title bouts, or any other boxing-related activity sponsored by the World Boxing Council, with its so many accomplishments in modern boxing history.
"The WBC has a history of opening doors to the boxers of the world who were not included in the boxing system and monopolies of the past, as they were either not accepted or they would not sign everlasting promoter commitments. The strong efforts of the WBC opened the doors to boxers from Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and many sections of the United States itself that in the first half of the 20th Century had limited opportunities. Today, the opportunities are for everybody, and the WBC feels great pride and deep satisfaction for our efforts to push them into the world of boxing.
"With such opportunities, great idols emerged such as Carlos Monzon, Eder Jofre, Alexis Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez, Rodrigo Valdez, Nino Benvenuti, Bruno Arcari, Azumah Nelson, Jeff Fenech, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, Chartchai Chionoi and Kostya Tszyu, just to mention a few from different nations.
"The World Boxing Council has also been the home of many of the greatest boxers of all time, like Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jr., George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez and Tommy Hearns, among many others, as well as having sanctioned many of the greatest title bouts of the last quarter century.
"It was because of the WBC that one of the absolute greatest countries in professional boxing in the world, Mexico, rose from only six world champions in 1970 to more than 60 today, including Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez, Ruben Olivares, Salvador Sanchez, Erik Morales, Lupe Pintor, Carlos Zarate, Daniel Zaragoza, Miguel Canto and Ricardo Lopez, to mention only ten of the many great Mexican boxers.
"All of the above information would be enough to show the importance of the WBC in the world of boxing, but the organization has also changed boxing from a savage sport to one more humanized in the recent last quarter century, and established safety as the backbone of the WBC and of boxing itself. This is the WBC's greatest source of pride.
"The WBC's 20-year struggle against apartheid seeking human equality and dignity; its important investment for permanent medical research on brain injuries, which is quite advanced; its medical and food pensions for retired champions living in poverty; the establishment of intermediate weight divisions to avoid the inhumane sacrifices of weight reduction; the 12-round rule to stop boxers from being pushed over the limits of human endurance; the building of world unity among the 161 affiliated nations for reciprocity and strong implementation of safety rules; the countless benevolent actions for boxers and their families needing hospitalization, surgeries, funerals, education, and retirement homes; the WBC's 20-year program for drug awareness in thousands of gymnasiums around the world, as well as drug and alcohol rehab programs; the life and hospital expenses in support of so many boxers and their families, and so many other actions that fill our lives and hearts with satisfaction and pride.
"All of the members of the World Boxing Council join in expressing our determination to continue serving the sport we love as strong as ever, 'The best that we can, in the best way we know,' as President Abraham Lincoln once wrote."
