Mauricio Sulaiman had the interview of a lifetime when he came across boxing reporter Broadway Joel and was faced with questions that he could not answer without being disingenuous or bullying aforementioned interviewer. Challenged with several poignant questions about Jermall Charlo’s status as the WBC middleweight champion, who had been inactive for 2 years due to alleged ‘mental health’ problems, Sulaiman failed to provide a suitable defense and faced criticism for his decisions as the WBC’s president.

When asked about Jermall Charlo’s (32-0, 22 KO’s) status as the WBC middleweight champion despite being inactive for two years, Mauricio Sulaiman explained: “We have to be consistent. The WBC has been supportive of Jermall Charlo. He was waiting to fight Canelo for a couple of years, then he came from interim Champion to full champion.

“At the same time, we have been supporting Carlos Adames and he has performed and he received the opportunity to become interim champion.

“He just defended that title. He’s in a great position to land big fights so we will support; that means we will support Charlo during these difficult times he has had as we have always done to our champions and the fighters, and we’re not breaking any rules. We’re not doing anything (wrong).

Mauricio Sulaiman made a claim that Carlos Adames (23-1, 18 KO’s) could unify as interim champion, using Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KO’s) as an example, but without providing the necessary context; while Golovkin was a WBC interim champion at some point in his career, he held other world titles at the same time. It is also important to note that there have been instances where the WBC ignored their own rules, and no other sanctioning body has allowed a single interim champion to unify with other world champions.

When asked by the interviewer why Jermall Charlo wasn’t made champion in-recess during the past two years, Mauricio Sulaiman showed a lack of adherence to his own rules.

“The WBC has full authority to take every single case and address it as within necessary so we’re handling and administering this case and we will support Charlo and we will support Adames.” Sulaiman responded.

When asked on what particular issues were stopping Jermall Charlo from defending his belt, Sulaiman claimed the fighter was dealing with an injury and “mental health problems”. However, our staff has already debunked this in a previous article, which highlighted that Charlo was dealing with personal issues rather than the alleged mental health problems.

When pressed for proof on this matter, Sulaiman remained vague and aggressive.

“I don’t need to provide any documentation but we have it.” Sulaiman told Broadway Joel.

Mauricio Sulaiman became more aggressive when the interviewer asked him whether he actually had this documentation.

“What are you trying to reach? I don’t like your style.” Sulaiman stated annoyedly. “What do you want to get from that?“

“Yes, there is proof so there is documentation. There’s documentation. If you continue this I’m gonna end the interview.“

Despite Mauricio Sulaiman’s claims of proof that Jermall Charlo was out for dealing with an injury and mental health issues, no document or report has ever provided publicly, and Sulaiman has proven to be disingenuous as exemplified earlier in this article when he claimed interim champions could unify against world champions.

Article 3.20 of the WBC’s Rules and Regulations document also clarify that Jermall Charlo should have been at least put in-recess due to his inactivity.

With Jermall Charlo having remained absent from the ring for a prolonged period, it would naturally fall to the WBC to either force Charlo to vacate his title or put him as a champion in-recess. Sulaiman cited injury (a) or mental issues (d) as reasons for Charlo being unable to defend his title, but he seemingly overlooked the rule stating that Charlo’s inactivity should have been addressed.

Sulaiman’s apparent disregard for the rules of his own sanctioning body became evident when he was challenged about his lack of adherence of the rules in the past two years. When he answered on how the WBC was at full liberty to handle any case as they saw fit, he neglected to see that he defied his own rules to placate one boxer who’s inactivity should have been clearly addressed.

The WBC continues to be a problem to the sport of boxing with its president seemingly content with stagnating an entire division when no one (including the WBC itself) stands to gain anything from Jermall Charlo’s inactivity. Sulaiman’s determination to bully interviewers into accepting his answers is an even worse problem, given he has not show any inclination to handle transgressions made by other boxers.

Jermall Charlo’s two-year inactivity should not be excused, particularly when the reasons for this inactivity cannot be conclusively proven. Though “mental health” issues and injuries were cited as reasons for Charlo, the WBC’s own rules would consider those very same issues grounds for Charlo being put as a champion in-recess or simply stripped of his title entirely.

Sulaiman’s unwillingness to do this has become an issue that has prevented WBC interim champion Carlos Adames and other contenders from competing as they should, and also kept the division from potentially unifying with other champions. Unifications are important staples in boxing which provide not only more earnings for competing boxers but draw more eyes towards the sport.