WITHOUT A doubt, Philippine boxing has experienced a rebirth due mainly to the exploits of Manny Pacquiao. Everyone and his neighbor are now closely following the adventures of our local boxing heroes.
In the wake of such national interest, the Games and Amusements Board is holding its first ever boxing convention. This is all well and good if indeed this will serve to improve the service that the GAB is supposed to render Philippine boxing.
So far however, it is not clear what the agency hopes to achieve in holding the affair. Supposedly, over 200 delegates are attending the confab and they have invited several personalities to speak on rules, officiating, refereeing, judging etc. The press releases have been trumpeting the theme “Building the Nation?s Champions Towards Global Recognition.” What, the GAB wants to be a PR agent to boxers?
GAB Chairman Eric Buhain has been quoted as saying the conference aims to create sound policies and avenues for the common welfare and protection of Filipino fighters and future generations of aspiring pro boxers.
But aside from these motherhood statements, not much have been heard as to what concrete measures are being hatched to address the urgent problems facing the Filipino boxer.
For instance, what has the GAB done to help Luisito Espinosa collect the balance of 0,000 from a fight which they allowed to happen disregarding their own rule of having the promoter pay up front before a match?
And what about the countless incidents of boxers being exported abroad to serve as punching bags to foreign boxers who want to bolster their fight records?
Many a time in our boxing coverages on the defunct “Blow by Blow” and now on “Fistorama,” we are perplexed to find inaccuracies in the fight records of some boxers. Evidently, some boxers fly under the radar since GAB is unaware of some fights that go unrecorded.
And speaking of Fistorama, my co-panelist Quinito Henson has been batting for a change in the antiquated rules of GAB particularly to the one pertaining to a cut caused by a head butt. GAB has this ridiculous rule that if a fighter is cut and that cut is aggravated by a punch and the fight is stopped, the cut boxer loses by TKO. This has opened an opportunity for some unscrupulous fighters to intentionally head butt an opponent and target the wound later for an easy win.
Several times we have called the attention of the agency to this preposterous rule, but the lame excuse was that the GAB being under the Office of the President, any change to its rules must come from the President herself. Oh really!
As we said, we wish the boxing convention well and that indeed the GAB will be more responsive to the plight of our boxers. The above are just a few of the many problems besetting the sport. But if such basic issues are not addressed, then this so-called boxing convention is just one big useless gab-off we can ill afford.
