THE Games and Amusements Board (GAB) expects a surge in the number of Filipino boxers because of the free medical services that it has implemented with the help of the Department of Health (DOH).
?Because of the free medicals, from about 1,200 boxers, we expect to have an increase of about 10 percent, maybe 1,500. Because of the free medicals, boxing has become affordable. The amateurs who want to turn pro, the trainers who used to box, a lot will come back. So we?re excited,? GAB Chairman Baham Mitra said.
Mitra was in Cebu to oversee the ?For Honor and Pride? boxing show last weekend in Bogo City, headlined by hometown hero Joe Noynay, who defended his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia-Pacific Youth super featherweight strap against Mexican Hector Garcia.
A boxer spends around a total of P30,000 for medical examinations. If a boxer wants to turn pro, then he is required to have a medical examination done, for him to be able to get a license to fight. A boxer also has to undergo a medical examination for license renewal. Aside from that, boxers are usually required to undergo a brain MRI to fight outside of the country.
?In the past we caught boxers with fake CT scans. There are no more fake CT scans now. Maybe they faked it (before) because it?s expensive,? said Mitra.
Last year, GAB caught more than a hudred boxers with fake CT scans. GAB immediately acted on it and suspended 70 of them.
?Now that it?s free, there is no reason for them to fake their CT scans. We are very happy that the DOH has come forward to assist our boxers with free medicals: free CT scans, free MRIs, free examinations and all these things,? he added.
CT scans and MRIs are crucial for prevention of ring deaths and debilitating injuries due to head trauma.
Boxers from Cebu area can get their free medical examination in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
GAB was awareded as the Commission of the Year by the World Boxing Council (WBC) in its 55th WBC Convention last year for its free medical services program.
One of the issues that GAB has also addressed, with Mitra?s leadership, are the rampant mismatches abroad.
?No boxers have gone out that didn?t pass through the GAB. We suspend the boxers that get caught, we take away their license and if anyone has knowledge about anything, we ask for your help and assistance to tell us right away. We go after them, we suspend them, and we also suspend the managers,? said Mitra. ?Since we came in, the observation of most is that there is already a decrease in mismatches. The integrity of fights is very important to us. If there are mismatches; if there are fixed fights, the Filipinos lose their desire in boxing.?
Mitra was appointed as GAB chairman in 2016, replacing Juan Ramon Guanzon. (EKA)
