GAMES and Amusement Board (GAB) chairman and Negros Amateur Boxing Association (NABA) president Monju Guanzon on Sunday reacted to news that came out that Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) pushed to change eligibility rules to allow pro boxers to participate in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
?This is next to impossible. This will never happen,? Guanzon said.
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He also stressed that, though there are professional players participating in this amateur-ruled quadrennial sports competition, professional boxing is far different from the amateur.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) Executive Director Ed Picson also said in an interview with ANC that the return of professional boxers to the amateur ranks is not that simple.
?Amateur boxing and professional boxing are worlds apart. The analogy is the punching and the parrying, but most of the rules are different,? he explained.
NABA vice-president for South Negros Oscar ?Dodong? Bascon also disapproved of the idea.
?As of the moment, I am not in favor of this idea. This may not help sports in general and may even be detrimental. Likewise, this will discourage our amateur boxers to strive harder because, at the end of the day, it will still be the pro boxers who will be picked up to represent the country,? Bascon explained.
In the Olympics, among the sports where professional players are seeing action are basketball, football, baseball, tennis, swimming, chess and even athletics.
Picson disclosed that they are still waiting for the official guidelines that will allow professional fighters to compete in the Olympics. But for now, no definite standards have been set and no procedures have been discussed. Thus, they don’t know how that’s going to go, said Picson.
On the other hand, Provincial Sports Coordinator Angel Verdeflor finds the move to be beneficial to the country?s quest for its first Olympic gold medal.
Once this rule will be finalized, it will pave the way for the country to earn the elusive gold medal, as professional boxers like Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr., Donnie Nietes and Ana Julaton can represent the country in the Olympics starting 2016, according to Verdeflor.
