THE World Boxing Council will present a special award to President Gloria Arroyo during the opening ceremony of the prestigious body?s 45th Annual Convention slated from November 11 to 17 at the Manila Hotel.
Eric Buhain, chairman of the Games and Amusement Board, which is organizing the event that will put the country back as the boxing capital of the world, said WBC President Jose Sulaiman told him about President Arroyo?s special award during the Manny Pacquiao-Marco Antonio Barrera fight last week in Las Vegas.
?Mr. Sulaiman personally conveyed to me the message that the WBC is conferring an award to President GMA as the world?s body?s way of extending its gratitude for the Chief Executive?s acceptance of hosting the event,? Buhain said during Monday?s press conference at the Manila Hotel.
?We already sent the President?s photo which the WBC had asked from us,? the Filipino swimming hero and former Philippine Sports Commission chairman added.
Buhain also announced that President Arroyo has accepted the invitation to be the guest of honor and speaker during the opening of the 168-nation member conference.
Two other Filipinos who have contributed a lot in the formation and growth of the WBC?its former president, the late Cavite congressman and ex-GAB chairman Justiniano Montano Jr. and long-time Secretary-General Rudy Salud?will also be honored.
Montano was among the representatives from 11 countries that co-founded the WBC in 1963 before becoming its third president from 1968 to 1971.
Buhain is calling the relatives of the late lawmaker and sportsman to get in touch with GAB in the matter of to whom the invitation will be addressed and who will receive the recognition.
It was Salud, on the other hand, a former Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner, who drafted the WBC Constitution and By-Laws and became the council?s secretary-general when Sulaiman assumed the presidency in 1975.
Salud, a lawyer, also held the influential world ratings committee and the world championship committee in concurrent capacity for many years.
Buhain said that some 80 member countries have already signified their intention to attend the convention which will be hosted by the country for the second time since it was held for the first time here and in Asia in 1970, or seven years after WBC was organized in 1963.
All the 11 countries which co-founded the WBC?Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Great Britain, Mexico, Panama, Peru, the United States and Venezuela?have confirmed their participation in the seven-day confab held to redirect the course of boxing throughout the world.
?Staging this year?s convention here is very significant, especially to our Filipino boxers in their quest for honors and fame. I just hope that after the convention, our fighters would be given more chances at world championships fights,? Buhain said.
The Philippines earned the distinction as the world?s boxing capital some 30 years ago after it played host to the WBC annual convention in 1970 followed by the rival World Boxing Association congress in 1975 coinciding with the ?Thrilla In Manila? world heavyweight bout between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
