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Philippines, 13 May 2025 |
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DEATH IN THE RING - PART II By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Wed, 11 Apr 2007 The girlfriend of 24 year old ring fatality Lito Sisnorio, Jonahmee “Lalang” Bacus wants “justice for Lito” and posed the question in a conversation with columnist Quinito Henson “why cant the GAB do anything to stop this?” In fairness to GAB chairman Eric Buhain, the former multi-titled swimmer, he is trying his best but in many ways he is treading in waters infested with scum who are part of a loosely-knit syndicate preying on our fighters. Faced with the reality of being unable to fight regularly in the country and earn a decent living, lesser known fighters accept offers to fight abroad particularly in Thailand. Unscrupulous individuals both in Manila and Bangkok bleed the fight game of its integrity just so they could live off what amounts to the blood money of Filipino boxers and in so doing satisfy the thirst of Thai boxing fans for regular massacres in the ring. Equally important is the organized crime of padding the ring records of Thai fighters with what read like spectacular wins over mediocre Filipino boxers most of the time and help boost their ratings in the various international boxing organizations. On occasions, the Filipino fighters use the identities of better known boxers to further embellish the record of Thai boxers. Identity switching is a common practice. In fact some years ago, Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao’s former business manager Rod Nazario who also handled the career of younger brother Bobby Pacquiao was shocked to read a report on an international boxing website that Pacquiao had fought and lost in Thailand. Nazario told us then. “Bobby doesn’t even have a passport and I just spoke to him a short while ago. How could he be fighting in Bangkok when he never left the Philippines?” There are two names that keep surfacing over and over again in all the cases involving Filipino boxers who sneak out of the country without the required GAB clearance to fight abroad, most often in blatant mismatches. According to Buhain the names are those of Bong Obero whose real name is Ranilo Terrania and his Thai counterpart Panya Prachakorn who is said to be an assistant of promoter Virat. Obero was banned by the GAB precisely because of his nefarious activities but still continues with his illegal activities in connivance with Panya. Panya described Sisnorio’s “tragic and untimely death unfortunate” but claimed that all possible precautions were taken including two doctors at ringside and “one of them passed Lito as okay. It was unfortunate that he had suffered a brain injury but nothing was visible immediately after the fight.” Panya added,”no one is to blame” and that promoter Virat and his nephew Piyarat wanted to do everything possible to help Sisnorio’s relatives. No one is to blame? That appears to be a sickening attempt to shirk responsibility for a gross mismatch where Pongsaklek (63-2, 31 KO’s) and two months later Sasakul (58-3, 37 KO’s) hammered the young Filipino who had a record of 10-6-1, 3 KO’s at the time of his death. There are other names being mentioned by local promoters and even boxers following the tragedy that befell Sisnorio who left for Bangkok on January 14 along with Roel “Kid” Orais and Michael Rodriguez. Apparently Panya was in Manila and arranged for the boxers to fly to Thailand using former fighter Rex Paciones who works for Obero, as the contact person. Rodriguez, a minimum weight lost by a second round KO to Kwantchai Chor Nor Pattalung last February 27 after losing six successive fights in 2006. In what can only be described as insane matchmaking Rodriguez who had a record of 2-8 with no knockouts was pitted against Kwantchai who had a record of 11-0 with 8 KO’s. Equally revealing is the fact that Rodriguez like Sisnorio was managed by Jemuel Contayoso who claims the fighters left without his knowledge. However, Buhain is not buying that story because often when a tragedy occurs those who should be held responsible peddle the same excuse. This is a mere ploy to escape responsibility. If indeed Sisonorio and the other fighters had left as alleged without Contayoso’s approval then the manager had the obligation to immediately inform the GAB. Besides, there is no way boxing managers can claim they didn’t know that their fighters were in Thailand scheduled to fight since boxing cards are consistently published in Philboxing.com as well as boxrec.com and other boxing sites. Feisty businesswoman Yolly Alfante who dabbles in boxing promotions identified Orais, Tata Polinar and Pit Ancaya as three of her fighters who had left for Thailand without the necessary GAB approval. Alfante herself had reported the illegal activities of her fighters who were among the eleven fighters suspended by GAB chairman Buhain last year. She revealed that Paciones had contacted her and said he could send her boxers to fight in Thailand even without a GAB permit. Alfante said Anacaya had communicated with her and said he wants to return and fight legally and promised to reveal the identities of people involved in the racket of sneaking fighters out of the country to engage in mismatches against superior Thai opponents. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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