Boxing season concluded in Riyadh

By Mauricio Sulaimán
President of the WBC – Son of José Sulaimán

A very poignantly sad week for the Mexican boxing community, after the loss of two dear people beloved by us all.

Dr. José Luis Ibarra finally lost his battle against cancer, after fighting heroically and having won many rounds, being in the process of recovery; including attending our Acapulco Convention at the end of 2022 to receive an award for his bravery, and then being present at the Saúl Canelo Álvarez fight last year in Guadalajara.

The cancer returned, his body in spite of a valiant battle was unable to overcome it this time. But his spirit, inspiration and extraordinary example of uncomplaining courage forever remains with us. José Luis is now resting in peace.

Our beloved Ciro Nucci, president of the Mexico City Boxing Commission, lost his beloved wife Tere. A beautiful family, always so special. Tere leaves a great memory of love, unity and hospitality. A magnificent lady with a wonderfully memorable smile.

We concluded the boxing season in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh Season hosted another magnificent boxing show, in which an ingenious concept was accomplished: 5 vs 5, a show with five fights, in which two rival companies from England faced each other: Frank Warren, from Queensberry (QB ), against Eddie Hearn, from MatchRoom (MR).

His excellence Turki Alalshik brought these arch rivals together, to stake a significant amount for whoever won this competition.

Each promoter carefully selected his team, assigned a captain, and a simple yet meticulous formula was created to obtain points: the win was scored with one; if the victory was through a knockout, it was two; The captain’s victory counted for two points and, if it was by KO, he would get four points.

The fights were the following:

Willy Hutchinson defeated Craig Richards by decision, and thus obtained the WBC Silver light heavyweight championship; He also took a point for QB.

Nick Ball defeated Raymond Ford by split decision, and took the WBA world featherweight championship from him; more impetus for QB.

Hamzah Sheeraz knocked out Austin Williams in the eleventh round of a sensational fight, in which he successfully defended his WBC middleweight silver title and won the official challenger position, also adding four more points for QB.

Daniel Dubois demolished Flip Hrgovic by knocking him out in the eighth round, thus winning the IBF interim heavyweight championship, as well as a couple more points for QB.

Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang dramatically knocked out former world champion Deontay Wilder, who must now hang up his gloves.

The final score: Warren 10-0 Hearn.

The Saudi boxing program will make its international debut, with a high-level card this coming August 3, in California, USA, in which Terence Crawford has the main fight, and the Mexican Isaac Pitbull Cruz will be part of that great event.

The new date was announced for the fight that was postponed, with the WBC-IBF-WBO light heavyweight champion, Artur Beterbiev, against the WBA champion, Dmitry Bivol, to be held on October 12 for the opening date of Riyadh Season, and the rematch between the undisputed heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, vs. the former WBC champion, Tyson Fury, to be re-surged on December 21, in Saudi Arabia.

I had a very important meeting with the Office of the President of Ukraine. Our organization has expressed itself in many ways in favor of peace and the rejection of war; We have carried out a significant number of activations in support of this great country, which suffered an invasion in February 2022.

At this meeting they informed us of a very important Forum for Peace that will be held on June 15 and 16, in Switzerland, with the hope that this will be the beginning of the end of the conflict between these two countries.

DID YOU KNOW …?

Don King will promote a card at the Hard Rock Hotel in Miami, USA, next Friday, June 7, and has dedicated this event to the memory of my dear father José Sulaimán. Don, 92, is still active and working from dawn to dusk.

TODAY’S ANECDOTE…

My dad would have turned 93 years old on May 30. Don José left us 10 years ago, but he is still present in an impressive way. I want to thank everyone who has kept us covered since January 16, 2014.

The amount of messages, calls and expressions of affection that all of us in the Sulaimán family receive, gives us strength, motivation and joy to do our utmost best to continue his tremendous legacy.

I appreciate your comments at contact@wbcboxing.com

The post Boxing season concluded in Riyadh appeared first on fightnews.com.