WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman detailed why the WBC fired Ryan Garcia and how the organization ultimately reinstated him, noting both decisions in the minutes.
Instead of presenting Garcia’s situation as a matchmaking, Sulaiman presented it as a management case study: how the WBC balances enforcing discipline with a path back for a fighter who meets the conditions for a return.
Early coverage of the WBC
Sulaiman wrote that Garcia was with the WBC long before he became a major figure, describing repeated visits to the Los Angeles office and an early fixation on the organization’s championship identity.
“He often visited the WBC office in Los Angeles. Even then he claimed that his childhood dream was to win the Green and Gold Belts.”
Sulaiman added: “Since I met him, we have had a heartfelt friendship from the first time we met.”
The value in this story is not sentimentality. It’s institutional memory. Sulaiman places Garcia in the WBC system as a long-term contender rather than a champion who came overdue and left quickly.
Crisis, positive test and expulsion
In the most sensitive part of his account, Sulaiman described the tumultuous period that ended with the WBC taking action against Garcia.
“It was then that ‘King Ryan’ experienced his first major mental crisis and made the decision to retire from boxing, ending his brief reign.”
Sulaiman continued: “He won the fight in spectacular fashion and then it was discovered that he had tested positive for banned substances.”
“The WBC has made the hard decision to expel him.”
Sulaiman’s formulation presents expulsion as a formal enforcement action, tied directly to the period of crisis and his finding of banned substances.
No further medical interpretation is required and is not offered beyond Sulaiman’s words.
Golden Boy
Reinstatement at the discretion of the Board
Sulaiman’s account then moves from discipline to process, describing the ongoing contact and the road back that ultimately led to reinstatement.
“We remained close to him throughout, offering facilitate and pathways to rebuild his life.”
He added: “A year later he proved that he had overcome his demons and the WBC gave him the second chance that every man deserves.”
From a management perspective, Sulaiman characterizes reinstatement as discretionary and conditional, confirming that enforcement and reinstatement operate based on specific internal criteria.
How Sulaiman shaped Garcia’s current situation
Sulaiman concluded by stating where he believes Garcia stands today in the WBC world title fight.
“Ryan achieved glory and is today the undisputed WBC welterweight champion of the world.”
Regardless of the debate over terminology in the broader sport, Sulaiman’s position is clear: the WBC recognizes Garcia as being reinstated into the championship structure, and the Board stands behind this decision.
By publicly presenting the process, Sulaiman exposed the WBC’s discipline and reinstatement policies.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”
“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”
“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.
“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.
Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.
Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.
Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.
Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.
On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.
Perfect record
Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.
Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.
The numbers are tough to understand even now.
Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.
But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.
By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.
Why fans never bought it
The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.
His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.
Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.
Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.
WBC
Boxing has seen this before
Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.
As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.
Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.
More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.
The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.
Still one of the strangest
Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.
Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.
More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.
That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
One of the most coveted fights in boxing right now is the lithe heavyweight clash between unified champion Dmitry Bivol and WBC ruler David Benavidez for the undisputed 175-pound crown.
However, two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez believes that the fight could end in a “massacre”.
“The Mexican Monster” has since won the unified cruiserweight crown, but maintains he would be willing to cut weight to face Bivol and claim the undisputed honors.
Speaking on Inside The Ring programLopez renamed Benavidez the “Massacre Monster” when discussing the potential fight, believing the age difference between the two lithe heavyweight champions could be crucial to the outcome of the fight.
“I’m going to call Benavidez a ‘massacre monster’ because, man, [that performance against Ramirez] it was nasty. It’s really nasty, really.
“He [Benavidez] enters its flowering period, while the other [Bivol] is on the way out. You have to think about these things too.”
Bivol fulfilled his IBF obligation by defending his belts against Michael Eifert last weekend, but the WBO ordered him to face mandatory challenger Callum Smith in order to retain the WBO belt.
As a result, it appears that a potential Bivol-Benavidez clash will have to wait until 2027, with Beterbiev also being considered for the trilogy.
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