MANILA, Philippines — Since the unsinkable Jose Sulaiman took over as president of the World Boxing Council in 1975, the organization has not changed leadership.
?Sulaiman will be there forever,? once said the late Justiniano ?Jun? Montano, who became the WBC president in 1964. ?In order to effect changes, we need to have somebody with influence and the expertise who could stand up and fight the mafia inside the WBC, somebody who commands respect of the boxing world.
?Sadly,? added Montano, ?there is no one to take up the cudgels. Too much politics is making it very, very difficult for the other challengers, including another Filipino, to unseat Sulaiman.?
Sulaiman, a native of Mexico, once served under Montano during his term.
A short, proud man, Sulaiman rose to become the most powerful — and feared — figure in the history of professional boxing. Through the years, Sulaiman has increased his power base.
Still, boxing people have raised many questions: Is the organization playing by its own rules and creating its own champions — and unless a promoter or manager is part of the inner circle, will he have a hard time getting recognition for his boxer?
What about the continued exploitation of boxers? And ill-equipped medical examinations in some WBC member-countries? And the frequency of gross mismatches?
Hosted by the Games and Amusement Board, the WBC is holding its 45th annual convention in Manila.
I am challenging the honorable delegates to make significant progress and not merely pay lip service to boxing reform.
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My hat?s off to cool and calculating Daryl Peach of England for nipping hitherto unknown Robert Gomez of the Philippines, 17-15, in their nerve-frazzling finals at the 2007 World Pool Championship Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Even though the Englishman proved me wrong (I had predicted that a Filipino would win this year?s edition of the World Pool), I was consoled by the fact that Gomez, known as ?Superman? in billiards circles, gave Daryl a helluva time sealing the dramatic victory.
In winning the $100,000 first-prize money, Daryl scored upset wins over two highly regarded Filipinos — last year?s champion Ronnie Alcano and hot favorite Francisco ?Django? Bustamante.
Gomez?s loss was reminiscent of a similar failure during the 2002 WPC in Cardiff when Bustamante also suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of American Earl ?The Pearl? Strickland.
At that time, Django almost abandoned the tournament when he learned about the death of his 8-month-old daughter, Mariel, but he decided to continue to play and finish the tournament for the sake of flag and country.
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NOTA BENE. To faithful reader Victorio Vargas of Makati City: Thank you for your kind thoughts. I did mention that former senator Robert Jaworski, who made his PBA debut in 1975 and retired at age 52 in 1999, ?was the oldest man to ever play professional, (repeat professional), basketball anywhere in the world.?
I wrote about it to stress that the PBA is a ?professional league? and not an ?amateur tournament? like the Olympics where no cash prizes are handed out?
Calling all San Beda College grade school batch of 1991 and high school batch of 1995. There will be a grand reunion at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Sankalan Grill on Quezon Avenue corner Examiner Street in Quezon City. For details, call or text Mike Isada at 0915-4405088.
