Excerpt from a Cracks Podcast interview in which Mauricio Sulaimán recounts memories of his father’s funeral held in the Panthéon, emphasizes his father’s humility and simplicity despite global recognition, recalls childhood/school references (Pepe Cantoral), and warns about how sudden fame and money in boxing can create a dangerous bubble that changes people.
When my dad died, he was there, in the French Pantheon. It was incredible. We had to take over the entire Pantheon. All the rooms were closed off for my dad. And a couple of days later my wife told me, hey, I didn't know what your dad was like. I mean, she had no idea. Because there was the engineer, Slim, and next to him a boxer, the humblest one you can imagine. People came from Japan, Africa, Europe, from everywhere. But we never saw my dad show off, feel superior to anyone, or say, I'm the best. Not at all, quite the opposite. One day we were walking through an airport and she said to me, wow, I. I think he recognized me. I mean, it was brutally simple. It fascinates me. What I admire most are successful people who are simple. And the truly great ones are usually simple. And that's why I never remember them. I studied at Aveil Monday in Lindavista, and Pepe Cantoral was my classmate, even in class and at school. You, Suleiman and Cantoral don't think you're super aggressive dads, for dads sake. And Pepe is very simple. We never had any idea that there was a difference between a classmate and us, right? But yes, the simplicity and glamour of boxing. If you're not simple, you get lost. It's very easy to believe it. It's very easy. Thank God I had that guidance from my dad, who I lived my whole life, every day, and he taught me by his example. And from time to time he gave us a couple of pieces of advice, right? Like you never look up and much less down. And everything he told us, but always very simple. For example, here he taught us. So I've seen so many people who manage to achieve something in life fleetingly, or receive a good amount of money so quickly. And the change is brutal, very painful, because the boxer, or the trainer or the promoter, a sponsor, someone who suddenly grows. Because in boxing you can grow with one blow. One blow makes you a champion. You become famous, Fame and money start to arrive, and with that, many temptations. Normally this person enters a bubble where.
