Ricky Ray Taylor:
I recently had a Q & A with long time World Boxing Council President JOSE SULAIMAN.  It was certainly an honor to pick the brain of such a distinguished leader in our beloved sport.  Mr. Sulaiman has introduced a number of innovations during his tenure as WBC president most of which are still in place today, including the four-roped ring, thumbless gloves, weigh-ins 24 hours before bouts, and the reduction of the championship distance from 15 to 12 rounds.  
For his dynamic efforts in advancing our sport he was inducted into the "International Boxing Hall of Fame" in 2007.
(References; Mullan, Harry. "El Presidente," Boxing Monthly, October 1998, pp. 20-22)

 
TAYLOR:  Mr. Sulaiman, it is certainly a pleasure to speak with you. 
SULAIMAN:  My dear friend Ricky Ray:  It is really my pleasure to let you know my thoughts about your questions, and I would like to congratulate you for having been an amateur champion and continue in life becoming an example to the youth of today.
  
TAYLOR:  One of the subjects of interest which you are currently involved is "WBC World Neighborhood Amateur Plan." Can you please tell us more about it?
SULAIMAN:  It is my opinion that amateur boxing has gone and continues going seriously downwards, as it has become a boxing of “touch and run”, as the machine scoring machines have as the basis that 3 out of 5 Judges push a button at the same time to score one point. There is no more consideration to good boxing, nor to good punching, it has become merely to try to connect and get away so you are not connected; the recent boxers coming out of the Olympics and world mater championships are very mediocre and boxing fans are losing interest for that kind of boxing.  Boxing is in a stage of transition as the boxing heroes have already stepped down or they are in the process of doing so, and there is a desperate need to find new heroes, which we will never do if we continue with amateur boxing they way it is.  Therefore, the WBC is in the process of instituting what we will call the WBC Boxing Neighborhood World Cup, which will invite all boxing interested kids coming from all neighborhoods of the different countries of the world, to have county, state, regional and national champions, who will fight in a tournament with the winners of all the 10 boxing confederations affiliated to the WBC, representing the 164 countries that they have.  We intend to have common boxing rules similar to the golden gloves, with important safety measures and definitely no scoring machines. 
 
TAYLOR:  It seems that you are affiliated with a new Boxing promoting idea called "SULJOS.TV".  Can you tell us more about Suljos.tv and how it will help the pundits of Boxing in the forseeable future?  Also, what is WBCBoxing.tv?
SULAIMAN:
WBCBoxing.tv and Suljos.tv is a new internet that is already showing professional top boxing LIVE, in no less than 50 countries, which is intended to bring opportunities to all promoters and boxers with guaranteed no discrimination or favoritism, as it is today with some TV corporations giving opportunities to very few promoters and even lesser number of boxers, with the great majority being left out from TV, without which promoters can not organize boxing today.  WBCBoxing.tv and Suljos.tv is not intended to compete against television, but a complement or an alternative for those who even being very good champions and challengers, are not being favored by TV today.  Internet will be in no more than 1 years the most active search for user fans of boxing.  There is today also, a rapidly becoming a popular and active blog, which is suljosblog.com, which started at the very end in Google and is the very first today; from 55 users in the first month of operations, in one year it has about 90,000 users checking the suljosblog.com .


TAYLOR:  In Cancun last November, 2 subjects emerged from the "WBC 47th Annual Convention".  One was the creation of a series of Amateur as well as 4 and 6 round Professional Boxing tournaments.  Personally, I think it is an excellent idea to make adjustments from the ground level in order to work upwards.  How is this coming along?
SULAIMAN: 
The WBC plan for preliminary boxers is very similar to the amateur project in regards to the need of looking intensely for new boxing idols, as without them boxing might go dramatically down. Today 4 or 6 round boxers only go to the ring in search of a low pay day and no other motivation.  We intend to organize also county, state regional and nationl championships, for semifinals boxing against other confederation champions to leave 4 team finalists that would look for a world cup championship.  This is an opportunity for the professionals of boxing to present their good prospects and project them to the heights. 
 
TAYLOR: You have expressed interest in having a MEDICAL CONGRESS to meet every 5 years.  Can you elaborate on this for us?
SULAIMAN: 
The WBC has had 2 world medical congresses from which many protective rules in boxing have originated;  the first one in Aruba, at the Caribbean islands in 1997 to which ring doctors from 86 countries attended ; the next one was in Cancun Mexico in 2007, to which the unbelievable number of ring doctors from 93 countries were present, including the USA, country that has had the highest number of boxing doctors present.  There were many very interesting medical research programs were shown that might bring important changes in medical analysis for more accurate detection of injuries, as well as many interesting possibilities for safety in boxing.  It was approved to have these medical world seminars every five years; the following will be in the year of 2013, when we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the World boxing Council, with the participation of leading medical researchers in the specialties of brain injury specially.

 
TAYLOR: Currently, the WBC is the only organization which penalizes one of the two fighters amidst an "accidental" headbut. 
Is it always the case that the fighter who "does not" get cut - gets penalized?  Why is the WBC the only organization with this rule in place?
SULAIMAN: 
The head butt is a foul,,,,, it is so stated in all rules of boxing ,,,,,,, in basketball a foul is penalized with 2 free shots; in soccer with a penalty ; there are penalties in all sports........ And a head butt is the worst foul that there is in boxing and he who is cut loses about 50% of his abilities ,,,,, in all the years of my life in boxing, which have been more than 60, I have very, very seldom see a referee calling head butts intentional, so when are we going to penalize such a blatant foul, the worst of all fouls?.     
That is why the WBC penalizes such a foul with one point, since more than 25 years ago, which is nothing for the damage done to a boxer who has been cut and it has been well seen and now routine in every country of the world, excepting the USA, where boxing commissions are very independent and not used to world recognition and mutual cooperation.  I am sure that some day they will come to the conclusion that is is necessary to reduce boxers training to use their heads with the least noticing possible. THE WBC is very proud of this rule as well as many other safety rules as it is terrible to see the continuous use of the head and head butts with no penalty at all.

I hope that I have answered your questions appropriately Mr. Taylor and beg you to accept my most respectful and best personal regards.
José Sulaimán.