Jose Sulaiman Chagnon Dies: World Boxing Council President Dead At 82

The boxing world is mourning the loss of José Sulaimán Chagnón, president of the World Council of Boxing, who passed away on Thursday aged 82. Sulaimán had been hospitalized for over 100 days in the hospitcal at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) following heart problems. Sulaimán was president of the World Council for almost forty years: he is widely credited with greatly expanding the WBC's global reach to now include 161 affiliated nations.

José Sulaimán Chagnón was born in Mexico in Ciudad Victoria in the state of Tamaulipas on the 30th of May 1931. His mother was Syrian and his father was Lebanese: he spoke Spanish, English, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and French fluently. He was an amateur boxer as well as working as a trainer, promoter, referee and judge, however he is most remembered as a leader in the boxing world. He began working at the WBC in 1968, where he rapidly rose to President in 1975.

Sulaimán is credited with implementing rules which helped the sport and protected the integrity of fighters. Among the rules he instituted, were the reduction of world championship bouts from 15 rounds to 12, the official weigh-in 24 hours prior to each bout, the introduction of the attached thumb glove and the funding of brain injury research at UCLA. He created more divsions and titles, allowign both the organization and its boxers to make more money, something that was widely criticised by his detractors.