New WBO President Olivieri shares visions for boxing's ‘new’ era

Being president of a boxing sanctioning body is akin to the stint of a Pope.

Among the recent leadership foursome heading the World Boxing Organization, World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation, the average length of service or – depending on your perspective – dictatorship has averaged 15 years.

Last week, WBO lead attorney Gustavo Olivieri, 40, of Puerto Rico, replaced Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel as president of the Puerto Rico-based organization after Valcarcel’s 28-year rule.

All of the other leaders – WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, WBA President Gilberto Mendoza Jnr, and IBF President Daryl Peoples – attended.

Olivieri, whose boxing bug spawned from seeing his father’s Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran souvenir jacket and attending a Felix Trinidad Jnr bout, spent time Monday giving BoxingScene his first extended interview since taking office. 

He spoke of his passion to help lift the sport to greater heights, to employ common sense and to advocate for justice in a sport that has too often defied logic and proved cagey.

You and the WBO championship committee have a couple of high-profile decisions to make: The first is, will you designate a mandatory opponent for your popular 140-pound champion, Teofimo Lopez?

At this stage, we have to consider multiple scenarios. Jack Catterall, who is No. 2, defeated the (former champion) Regis Prograis. However, we also have Arnold Barboza at No. 1 and he’s fighting (former unified champion) Jose Ramirez (Nov. 16). So we will have to carefully assess as to whether the winners of those bouts fight in a final WBO-sanctioned bout as an eliminator for the mandatory or if we automatically designate a mandatory. At this time, we are going to wait until the proper moment to render the ruling. … By the end of the year, we should have a definitive decision in that matter.

And, second, at your convention last week you received a petition from former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence to be considered in your top 15 so he can fight your junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora in a title fight early next year? Will that request be approved?

We acknowledged the petition, I made some remarks that I agreed on some of the arguments raised by TGB Promotions’ counsel. But, again, we’re in a tough spot in that Spence has been inactive for more than a year, he’s coming off a one-sided, TKO loss at welterweight, has not fought at junior-middleweight and is not rated. To give him a shot for the title when you have other fighters there, I’m not sure whether that’s a good precedent. Although I may agree with the wise arguments – that his loss was his only loss and it came against the great pound-for-pound champion Terence Crawford – he may have the merits to be rated. But does he have the merits to fight for the title considering the totality of the circumstances? I need to abide by my rules consistently and properly. It’s a very particular case.

I’d not only bet on Spence against the majority of your top 15, I’d say he’s going to make a highly lucrative bout with Fundora. Isn’t that in the best interest of the sport?

These are different times that require implementing different perspectives or modifying within the extent our rules allow because, at the end of the day, we’re here for our boxers. We’re not going to prevent our boxers from earning the highest purse or forcing a mandatory that makes no sense. We have to be very careful and aware of every decision we make. I don’t want to intercede in a negative way. We’ll try to pave the way to the extent my rules allow me to … if some rules need some changes, I’m open to that because these are new times. You have to adapt and have tunnel vision that, ‘these are the rules and that’s the way it’s gonna be … .’ The law changes, and so will we.

You saying that reminds me of when Kamala Harris was asked about what she’d do differently than Joe Biden and she said nothing. You certainly had a great relationship with “Paco,” but there’s things you’d like to do in your own voice that can make the WBO better?

One of the things is I’ll be very vigilant on the mandatories as to the process of who will be a mandatory. There’s so much scrutiny as to who will fight for the title. I know the system as it works. The question is the selection process right? There comes a time when the champion must defend his title against a mandatory, but the WBO will not designate a mandatory just because he’s No. 1. You need to defeat rated contenders. You have to be considered a world-class fighter. You have to have some sort of background that warrants your designation.

Will you rank other organization champions?

At this time, no. But I don’t disregard that. That’s a possibility. We have no legal jurisdiction to order a champion from the WBO to face another champion. What we can do is have agreements with the other presidents to promote unifications, like suggesting officials, to pave the way for this fight to get done because that’s what benefits everyone. Why would we prevent that from happening? That’s absurd. That’s my position.

What’s your position on ensuring that adequate drug testing is being performed in your title fights?

That’s a very technical question – the anti-doping matter and proceedings are very technical. We lack the expertise to get involved in a matter that is solely governed by the local commission. Those are the responsible entities with jurisdiction and authority to proceed with the enforcement of the rules. We promote anti-doping procedures to be performed and for the fighters to be subjected to testing.

But you are declaring who a champion is. Don’t you want to take every step possible to ensure testing is in place and that red flags are not waving over one of your bouts in an outlaw state or country? 

What we have is a policy that says the fighter is solely responsible for any substance he ingests into his system – knowingly or unknowingly. If you test positive, we’ll take affirmative action against you. And, for example, in Saudi Arabia, they contracted the Mohegan Sun commission (presided over by Assn. of Boxing Commissions head Mike Mazzuli) to conduct the relevant testing. The problem is a scenario when we have no commission, when everything is the wild west. We want experts presiding over every big fight.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia, we know the Riyadh Season and Turki Alalshikh have struck partnership or sponsorship deals with the WBC and WBA. Do they have something like that in place with you?

No. We’ve been offered the sponsorship by the Riyadh Season, but we’ve respectfully declined that based on our work in the U.S. … we’re a nonprofit and we have different federal laws and state laws that govern our operation. We’re financially sustainable. Our operations are up to date and in good standing, as well as our financials. We promote Riyadh Season without any type of sponsorship or quid pro quo. I’m not saying there’s a quid pro quo. We respect Turki and what he’s doing for boxing, which is unbelievable, with each event getting better, with the fighters getting the highest purses, the biggest opportunities at the highest levels.

Do you anticipate taking on a stronger role to mediate or broker fights when personality conflicts are preventing a bout from happening – such as the difficulty in making a fight between your super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and junior-middleweight champion Terence Crawford?

There’s always some behind-the-scenes deals where the presidents can have some involvement. We are facilitators who are trying to make the big fights happen again. Some of these dealings are confidential. But Crawford and Canelo … we will be open to making that fight. The question is whether Canelo wants to proceed with that fight. Canelo’s at the level he can make his own decisions. I wouldn’t have any issues or objection of trying to make Canelo-Crawford.

Can you discuss the passion and commitment you have for boxing?

The first live boxing event I saw was Trinidad at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, which was packed, with HBO there, an unbelievable experience. I always wanted to work in that industry as a lawyer. I pursued a graduate degree related to sports law at Georgetown and worked as an intern at the WBO. I was already a licensed attorney, but started doing the dirty work – answering the phone and emails, picking up people at the airport, taking people to dinner, lunch, organizing schedules, learning about the rating structure. ‘Paco’ started taking me to fights, meeting people, commissioners, managers. As the years went by, he gave me more responsibilities – working with the championship committee, drafting resolutions, assigning officials, the rotation system, the step-aside deals. You name it – he took me step by step. It’s been a very organic, but progressive and firm course to reaching the position I’m at now, which is very humbling.

No one leaves this position very often. Do you foresee being in this role for a long while?

No, I don’t think so. Change is necessary because times change and we need to adapt. Let’s see how it goes. ‘Paco’ legitimized the WBO, gave it credibility, integrity, honor and professionalism. My intention is to keep it that way and take it to another level, implementing innovation and technology. I’m making some changes, like reducing some of the minor, regional titles. I think there are too many titles in boxing.

One thing that you’ve heard is that the WBO is too cozy with promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank, with some saying WBO stands for “Whatever Bob orders.” Is that something you’re aware of, something that bothers you?

I don’t take it personally. It’s a legitimate question. I invite the fans to come to my office … in Puerto Rico. This is an open book. There’s nothing behind closed doors, nothing backhanded under the table. The relationship with Top Rank is just a long-standing successful relationship that I hope we’ll be able to keep for many more years to come. If a business relationship is successful, why change it just to be opposite. Bob and his people are professionals. They know we’re professionals. They know we play by the rules. Sometimes we grant them their requests, sometimes we don’t. We have a great relationship with them and most of the promoters – Frank Warren, Eddie Hearn, Tom Brown, Mr. Honda. We have to be very careful, very zealous in our decisions – like determining who will be the next mandatory in each weight class. Because, we know, the people, the journalists are very vigilant.