If lowering sanctioning fees will help boxing get rolling again, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman is willing to do it.
Sulaiman also suggested he will relax mandatory challenge regulations and allow boxers to fight at higher weights than they normally would if they need to.
The boxing business, like most businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, has taken a significant financial hit after it went on the shelf in March. Many in the sport has lost income.
“I feel like there is going to be an effect that we all have to participate in,” Sulaiman told ESPN Deportes. “It will be necessary to have flexibility, make adjustments to what situations are coupling, adjust fees.
“… What I directly announce is that we are all going to have to be flexible, the sanctioning fees will go down and we will try to cut expenses for everyone.”
Sulaiman said his champions can’t necessarily be expected to face mandatory challengers when boxing restarts. Some can’t travel because of the pandemic. Others might have difficulty making weight after the layoff.
“We are going to see case by case,” he said. “For example, Jose Ramirez was going to defend the super lightweight title against Viktor Postol. It was going to be in China in February and it was suspended. Then it was going to be in California in May and it was suspended.
“Today Postol is in Ukraine, and if he cannot travel, we cannot punish Ramirez. We are going to look at things, case by case.”
He said of the weight issue: “It is a very important point. No one is training at a high level for obvious reasons. This time everything is possible … when we are all living during something unexpected.”
