Proposition 187 Prompts WBC to Ban Title Fights in California

The World Boxing Council, based in Mexico City, announced Tuesday it would ban title fights in California through at least March 30 to protest the recent passage of Proposition 187, which if enforced would cut off education, welfare and non-emergency medical aid to the state’s estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrants.

“What the government of California is doing is the same thing (as South Africa)--racism,” WBC President Jose Sulaiman said at a news conference.

Sulaiman said Mexican boxers who fight in California during the boycott would be sanctioned and added that the WBC position would be reviewed after March, at which time the ban might be extended.

The WBC is the biggest of the several bodies that organize international boxing.

Implementing the boycott may be moot. The two WBC champions the ban would likely affect, light flyweight champion Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez and junior lightweight title holder Gabriel Ruelas, do not figure to defend their titles in California before March 30.