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Philippines, 17 May 2024 |
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THE CHAIRMAN TAKES CHARGE By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sat, 19 Jan 2008  Amidst the many controversies surrounding boxing which received a tremendous boost by the incredible ring exploits of Manny Pacquiao, Games and Amusements Chairman Eric Buhain has clearly decided to move in and take charge, using the mandate of his office which is to protect the interests of the fighter primarily and then the sport and the others involved in it. Buhain, the one-time swimming great who sliced through the water with amazing grace, finesse and power to grab seven gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games is ready to prove that he is not a fish out of water and has the capacity and the will to tackle the problems of boxing decisively. This past week has been marred by two raging controversies involving IBF minimum weight champion Florante Condes and OPBF light flyweight and WBC No. 2 ranked Juanito Rubillar. Interestingly, both fighters left their managers and moved over to former world junior welterweight champion Morris East who had set up shop in Quezon City some weeks ago. In fact they lived with East in a rundown apartment along Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City, within walking distance of the Main Event Gym where they trained under East. Condes, as fight fans were made to believe, was managed by former boxer Aljoe Jaro but it was subsequently discovered that it was Jaro?s wife Alice who was the registered manager in the boxer-manager contract filed with the GAB. However, Aljoe Jaro had, in his possession, a special "power-of-attorney" which allows him to act on her behalf. It was virtually the same in the case of Rubillar. His manager was not Gabriel ?Bebot? Elorde but Elorde?s wife, Arlene. When we checked last Saturday, both Condes and Rubillar were not at the Main Event gym nor were they at the apartment. East however maintained that they had been training and were in good condition. He said Condes sparred most of the time with veteran Jun Arlos who was a smart and experienced fighter and at times he said ?Condes had a hard time? against Arlos. Condes himself said he sometimes sparred with super bantamweight Rene Banares. Morris East agreed that Condes was a devastating puncher for his weight of 105 pounds and that some of the boxers didn?t want to spar with Condes because of his punching power. East said he had seen tapes of Condes? opponent in the scheduled title defense in La Paz, Mexico on February 16, Raul ?Rayito? Garcia, but was confident the Filipino southpaw could handle him despite the Mexican?s unbeaten record of 21-0-1, 15 knockouts. IBF Championship Committee Chairman Lindsey Tucker earlier told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that Condes received a ?very, very good offer? of $50,000 for the Garcia title defense in a fight that was worked out by his co-manager Dante Ortiz, an American of Puerto Rican descent. Morris said ?they signed the contract. Its over. The fight will go on.? The promoter is Edrulfo Castillo Ojeda and the bout agreement was signed by Dante Ortiz on November 14, 2007. Aside from the $50,000 purse, Condes was to receive three (3) roundtrip airline tickets from the Philippines and two (2) from Las Vegas, four (4) hotel rooms and per diem for five people.? In addition the contract states that ?the purse of Mr. Condes will be free of any deductions to include taxes, medicals of the commissioners. The only deduction will be the IBF sanctioning fee. A money transfer will be made immediately following the weigh-in and Mr. Dante Ortiz must have proof of said transaction.? Sec 2C states that ?Upon the signing of the contract the promoter will advance $5,000 transferred to the account of Dante Ortiz no later than five working days from said signing.? Under the contract Condes has to be in La Paz one week before the fight. However the situation became murky when Condes , in a handwritten note to Chairman Buhain said he had no trust in Aljoe Jaro? ?nawalan na po ako ng tiwala sa kanya .? In addition he subsequently lost his faith in both East and Ortiz claiming they wanted him to travel alone to Mexico, with Ortiz promising to take care of him. Besides, Condes alleged that they were threatening to file cases against him should he not go through with his title defense against Garcia. Buhain told us that since Condes had asked ?to be detatched from his management group," under GAB rules and based on the reasons given by Florante he is currently in a ?floating status? which basically meant that ?his relationship with his management team will be cut.? The Chairman then made it clear ?since he is still our Philippine world champion he has to continue to defend his title and we in the GAB are prepared to help him with the full authority and mandate of the Games and Amusements Board to ensure that he defends his title anywhere in the world even in the Philippines and that he is going to be properly protected by the Philippine government.? In one of his messages to us, Condes said very clearly that he was terribly confused ? ?litong lito po ako?. He went on to allege that Aljoe fooled him and had asked him ?to quit boxing because I had no sense of gratitude? while on the other hand he added "I am being threatened by Ortiz and Morris East.? Condes in another text message to us said that ?after winning the world title this is what is happening. I had said to myself that I will hold on to the title for long but now I don?t know. Will I fight or will I allow them to strip me of my title? They are also saying they will sue me if I don?t fight.? Buhain noted that based on Condes' letter to him and his text messages to us ?our champion is very confused on who to trust. The people around him are also fighting and Florante doesn?t know the beginning, the middle and the end of all of these issues being floated around. But he has told us he wants to fight. Protecting him and allowing him to pursue his career undisturbed is our job and that is what we intend to fully implement.? The chairman said he was not particularly interested in claims that Condes signed this and that adding that ?if you were honest, if you were really trying to really protect the interests of the Filipino people because this is our champion then we will let you. We have no problem. But if it's gong to be personal, its just going to be business, GAB has to step in and we will use whatever authority, whatever respect, whatever credibility it has worldwide so that the Filipino boxers will feel that they come first and the GAB will not abandon them no matter where they go to fight.? Buhain put it bluntly when he said the GAB will ?not stop the growth of Florante. We are here, unlike other people, to make sure that he fights and be able to defend his title.? He sympathized with Condes noting that it would he hard for him to travel not knowing who his companions are, who he is traveling with, whom to trust and whether he will receive the money due him. Boxing is the career chosen by many Filipinos because that?s how they strive to earn a decent living and the people behind them, in the words of the chairman ?must respect the position of the boxer.? After his workout last Tuesday at the Wild Card Gym, Condes obviously aggravated a shoulder injury he had sustained earlier in sparring. In a text message to us the following morning after we had made arrangements with well-known TV boxing analyst Moy Lainez for him to train at the gym Condes said ?sakit ng balikat ko. Hindi ako makapag insayo.? The GAB chairman who had also learned about the injury told us that he had instructed the boxing division to conduct a physical examination of Condes on Monday and ?if the findings suggest an injury ? and I am quite certain there is because of the way he was training - then we will seek a postponement.? This would enable Condes to recuperate with therapy and Buhain promised to use ?whatever resources the GAB has to help him recover and be one hundred percent when he fights.? Buhain appealed to those around Condes not to force him even as he expressed happiness over the fact that his family was now behind him in the person of an aunt and her husband ? Mr and Ms. Apolinar Valencia of Cainta. Morris East in an angry email to us last Thursday claimed that there was no plan to house Condes in the rundown apartment he was in. He referred to the place as a ?temporary lodging? and that it was ?not the plan to begin with.? East said the plan was to go either to Cebu or Baguio ?but Florante chose to stay in Manila? even as he said ?you should have seen the first place they showed me. It was a total dump. Florante and his uncle chose it. In the future I will be in a better place.? But Buhain had an answer that made sense. He noted that "People are pulling him, let's bring him here, let's bring him to Cebu, let's bring his somewhere. But the boxer is really saying I just want to be with family. In more words than one he is saying these are the people I trust, these are the people I want to go with me and when he prepares to defend his title, he just wants to be with his family.? Buhain was particular about the fact that in the case of a world champion like Condes ?you have to make sure that he is always happy, smiling, he?s in a positive mood. He has to prepare himself to be one hundred percent mentally and physically.? Buhain emphasized, ?he has to be treated as a champion, he has to be treated with the respect that he has worked and deserved so dearly upto this point in time in his life.? In a telling commentary the former athlete and onetime Philippine Sports Commission chairman said ?we have four world champions and on March 15th Manny Pacquiao is going to fight for the fifth. But its sad to think that one of our current champions is in this state while the others( Nonito Donaire, Donnie Nietes and Gerry Penaosa) are living the dream.? East brushed aside all the claims and in turn accused Condes and Juanito Rubillar of being ?two-faced.? He went on, ?they show you a front that they are so innocent and nice and then after you treat them like an equal they run away.? At the same time East denied that he threatened Condes stating ?I never threatened Florante even though he is so arrogant and big-headed.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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