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Philippines, 13 May 2025 |
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DEATH IN THE RING – PART III By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Thu, 12 Apr 2007 An added twist to the revelations about Panya is the disclosure by a well-known boxing writer in Thailand that Bangkok-based WBC official Edward Thangarajah is suspected of having partnered with Panya in match-making. When we called the veteran journalist who happens to be a Sri Lankan, the conversation ended in a somewhat heated discussion with Thangarajah vehemently protesting our branding the fights against Sasakul and Pongsaklek “terrible mismatches. He said “don’t jump to conclusions because that boy Sisnorio was trying to climb up the ladder and he came and fought here. How can you say it’s a mismatch?. Its not right. You are letting down the people who are trying to organize fights here.” Climbing up the ladder? Well, he fell to his death. When confronted with the unbelievable disparity in the ring record of Sisnorio (10-5-1, 3 KO’s) as against Pongsaklek (63-2, 31 KO’s) and Sasakul (58-3, 37 KO’s) the meek response was “its up to you.” Our contention was – and still is – its up to the Thais and especially world boxing officials to put a stop to this travesty. However, despite the somewhat heated discussion, Thangarajah did make one point which was hard to really argue against because it’s a reality of the present time. He argued “how can you get these poor boys to help their parents when you talk like this? These boxers are coming here because they are poor. Why can’t you people arrange fights in the Philippines? Thangarajah went on, “they want to have fights, they want to earn some money so naturally they are coming here to fight.” The unranked fighters generally earn around $300 for a six round fight while in the Philippines they usually get paid P1,000 per round so a six rounder would get P6,000. When Sisnorio made the first defense of his youth title he reportedly earned $3,000 or around P150,000 which is a decent purse by Philippine standards. Besides, these fighters are often excited by the prospect of traveling to a foreign country no matter how tough the grind. In one final effort to turn things around and put pressure on the Philippines, the Bangkok Post columnist questioned why there were no details of Thai flyweight Deeden Kengkarun who allegedly fought in the Philippines and died one week before Sisnorio after suffering convulsions following his return to Thailand. The last recorded fight of Kengkarun was a lopsided ten round loss to super flyweight Z “The Dream” Gorres in a Viva Sports promotion at the San Andres Sports Complex on July 30, 2005. A check with the GAB boxing division indicated there was no record of Kengkarun fighting in the Philippines recently although that does not categorically mean he didn’t fight here. He could very well have also been made to switch identities in the ring. In fact Panya some years ago incurred the ire of the Japan Boxing Commission when he faked the identity of a challenger in an OPBF title fight and was found out and banned. Since Deeden was apparently here at about the same time that Panya was in town it could well be that indeed Deeden fought here under another name. Buhain, responding to the death of Sisnorio which dramatized the scourge of mismatches, immediately imposed a ban on Filipino boxers fighting in Thailand until the current sordid mess is cleaned up. He received immediate support from retired Thai police general Kovit Bhakdibhumi who is vice president of the WBC and Thailand’s top boxing official. Buhain disclosed he had been contacted by Kovit and that he would either fly to Bangkok to meet with him or the top Thai official would fly to Manila for a meeting that would result in the adoption of stringent measures aimed at eradicating the major problems in boxing. Martin Petty of Reuters quoted Kovit as saying “I feel very strongly about the death of Lito Sisnorio – we don’t want these mismatches.” He insisted “I don’t care if the promoters are unhappy. That’s not important.” Indeed, other countries have long been unhappy with the conduct of Thai promoters and came out in support of a proposal by GAB boxing division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz that the different boxing groups in Thailand sign an agreement to ensure that prior approval is obtained before fights are staged in order to prevent glaring mismatches. The Thai official said he fully supported the GAB proposal . He said “we have to find out exactly what happened and stop this from happening again” although he was realistic in pointing out that fatal accidents can happen in boxing but “we have to protect fighters the best we can.” We learned that Kovit dislikes Virat as well as Panya and Thangarajah who by all accounts work for him one way or another. It means the GAB has a powerful ally in Thailand in its efforts to eradicate a curse that has haunted the sport in that country for some years now. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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