Editing World Boxing Council (section)

===Don King===
Many in the boxing community have accused the WBC of bending its rules to suit the powerful boxing promoter [[Don King (boxing promoter)|Don King]]. The journalist [[Jack Newfield]] wrote, "...[WBC President José Sulaimán] became more King's junior partner than his independent regulator".<ref name=Newfield>{{cite book|last=Newfield|first=Jack|title=Only In America|publisher=William & Morrow Co.|year=1995|location=New York, New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/141 141]|isbn=0-688-10123-2|url=https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/141}}</ref> Another journalist, Peter Heller, echoes that comment: "Sulaimán...became little more than an errand boy for Don King".<ref name=Heller/> Heller quotes [[British people|British]] promoter [[Mickey Duff]] as saying, "My complaint is that José Sulaimán is not happy his friend Don King is the biggest promoter in boxing.  Sulaimán will only be happy when Don King is the ''only'' promoter in boxing."<ref name=Heller>{{cite book|last=Heller|first=Peter|title=Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story|publisher=New American Library|year=1988|location=New York, New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/143 143]|isbn=0-688-10123-2|url=https://archive.org/details/onlyinamericalif00newf/page/143}}</ref>

Newfield and Heller take issue with the following actions of the WBC:
* When [[Leon Spinks]] won the WBA and WBC Heavyweight Championships from Muhammad Ali in 1978, the WBC stripped Leon Spinks of his title. José Sulaimán said the WBC did so because Spinks was signed for a rematch with Ali instead of fighting a Don King fighter, [[Ken Norton]]. Norton defended the WBC title against another Don King fighter, [[Larry Holmes]], who won the belt.<ref name=Newfield/>
* In 1983, WBC Super Featherweight Champion [[Bobby Chacon]] was signed to fight [[Cornelius Boza-Edwards]], the WBC's [[mandatory challenger]] for his title. But, the promoter Don King wanted his fighter, Héctor Camacho, to fight for the title. Although WBC rules said the mandatory challenger should receive a shot at the title, the WBC withdrew its sanction from the fight. It stripped Chacon of his title for refusing to fight Camacho.<ref name=Heller/>
* Under WBC rules, a fighter is supposed to defend his title against a mandatory challenger at least once a year. For fighters controlled by Don King, this rule is often ignored. For instance, Alexis Argüello and [[Carlos Zárate Serna|Carlos Zárate]] were allowed to ignore their obligations as WBC champions to their mandatory contenders.<ref name=Newfield/>
* When WBC Super Featherweight Champion Julio César Chávez wanted to fight top contender [[Roger Mayweather]] for a promoter other than Don King, the WBC withheld its sanction of the fight until Don King became promoter.<ref name=Newfield/>
* When Mike Tyson lost to [[James Douglas (boxer)|James "Buster" Douglas]] during an IBF, WBC and WBA Heavyweight Championship defense, King convinced the WBC (along with the WBA) to withhold recognition of Douglas as heavyweight champion. King claimed that Tyson had won the fight by knocking Douglas down, after which the referee gave Douglas a "[[long count]]".<ref name=Newfield/> The referee, [[Octavio Meyran]], claims in an [[affidavit]] that King threatened to have the WBC withhold payment of his hotel bill if he did not support King's protest.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sugar|first=Bert|title=In This Corner|journal= Boxing Illustrated|volume=32| issue =  8|page=4|date=October 1990}}</ref> Because of intense public pressure, both the WBA and WBC backed down and recognized Douglas as champion.
* In 1992, the WBC threatened to strip [[Evander Holyfield]] of his title for defending it against [[Riddick Bowe]] instead of [[Donovan Ruddock|Razor Ruddock]]. Holyfield obtained a court order to stop the organization. In a taped deposition for the [[United States Senate]] Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Holyfield said that the WBC wanted him to defend his championship against Ruddock because Ruddock was managed by King.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heaney|first=John|title=The Senate Investigation: Much Ado About Nothing|journal= Boxing Illustrated|volume=35|issue=10|page=38|date=December 1992}}</ref>
* During the 1990s, the WBC did not allow its champions to engage in unification bouts with WBO champions. However, in 1993, the super middleweight showdown between WBC champion Nigel Benn and WBO champion [[Chris Eubank]], promoted by Don King, was recognized as a title unification fight by the WBC. The bout ended in a draw and each retained their respective titles.<ref>[[Nigel Benn vs. Chris Eubank]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=October 2017}}
* When Mike Tyson was released from prison in 1995, the WBC installed him as their #1 contender for their heavyweight championship.  Tyson had not fought in four years, but was promoted by Don King.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.secondsout.com/uk-boxing-news/uk-boxing-news/lewis-v-tyson-fallout-could-destroy-wbc |title=SecondsOut Boxing News - UK Boxing News - Lewis v Tyson fallout could destroy WBC |access-date=2017-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019215824/http://www.secondsout.com/uk-boxing-news/uk-boxing-news/lewis-v-tyson-fallout-could-destroy-wbc |archive-date=2017-10-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 1993, Julio César Chávez, managed and promoted by Don King, received a majority draw against [[Pernell Whitaker]] in their WBC welterweight title fight in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]]. Virtually every ringside observer and boxing analyst had Whitaker winning at least 8 or 9 rounds of the 12-round fight and [[CompuBox]] statistics showed Whitaker outlanding Chávez by a wide margin. But two of the three judges had the fight scored even. The fight was promoted by King and two of the judges were not appointed by the state's boxing commission (in this case, Texas) like any other time; instead, they were appointed by the WBC. It had been reported that Don King had a hand in helping to secure the WBC judges for the fight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1993/09/20/beaten-to-the-draw-pernell-whitaker-outboxed-julio-cesar-chavez-but-two-judges-denied-him-the-win|title=Beaten to the Draw - Sports Illustrated Vault|work=Sports Illustrated Vault &#124; SI.com }}</ref> To this day, the resulting draw is considered one of the most controversial decisions ever.
* In 2000, Chávez, still promoted by King, was made the mandatory challenger for Kostya Tszyu's WBC super lightweight title. Chávez did not appear to satisfy requirements for a mandatory challenger: he had not fought at super lightweight for two years, had recently lost to journeyman boxer [[Willy Wise]] and had not beaten a top contender since losing to [[Oscar De La Hoya]] for the first time in 1996.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}
* In 2005, the WBC stripped [[Javier Castillejo]] of his super welterweight title for fighting [[Fernando Vargas]] instead of [[Ricardo Mayorga]], a fighter promoted by Don King. The WBC qualified Mayorga for a shot at the super welterweight title although he had never fought at that weight limit and had lost two of his last three fights.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}