From WBC President Jose Sulaiman:

“I would like to respond to erroneous interpretations and accusations in certain news reports that we at the WBC and boxing commissioners in Mexico ignored a request, reportedly sent by the Association of Boxing Commissions in the United States to the boxing commission in Leon, Guanajuato, to not allow Tommy Morrison to fight on the February 9 event presented by Top Rank, Zanfer, and a local promoter.

“Nobody in Leon received any correspondence from the ABC. Neither had the ABC contacted the mayoral office of the city or the WBC in regards to such a request. The WBC would have forwarded the request ourselves, out of courtesy, if the ABC had contacted us.

“Morrison went through the same thorough medical examinations as all the other boxers, but nobody, in the commission or out of it, had any idea of any boxing suspension.

“Except for the California state commission, the ABC and state commissions in the US never contact Mexican commissions or Mexico’s National Boxing Federation, and very rarely contact the WBC, regarding boxers’ suspensions.

“Countless boxers from Mexico have gone and still keep going to fight in the United States while they have been medically suspended in Mexico – having been recently knocked out or with other impediments - but none of the suspension notifications sent by Mexican commissions to US commissions have ever been respected, while many Mexican boxers have been hurt and others suffered irreversible damage, and even death.

“This is the reason that the WBC has been wanting to meet with the ABC, so that the US boxing commissions, together with the Mexican commissions, could find mutual agreements for the safety and welfare of boxers and boxing. Mexican state commissions are integrated into the National Boxing Federation, which is the one that could work with ABC, but it seems that ABC only wants to deal with individual state boxing commissions and not the NBF, which will serve no purpose.

“The incident involving Tommy Morrison shows the importance of the meeting between the ABC and the Mexican commissions. A meeting has been agreed to, but not yet scheduled. We hope that it will be scheduled soon. If the ABC is not interested in making agreements with the Mexican commissions, we would like to meet with state commissions in the US individually to address these problems."