WHILE Manny Pacquiao remains basking in the glory of his classic fight with Erik Morales despite a unanimous decision loss to the Mexican, another Filipino boxer who was once a world champion himself continues to hog the headlines — on another vein, though. Remember William Magahin?
He was the former World Boxing Federation (now Foundation) welterweight champion.
I wrote about him here some nine months ago. It was about his incarceration in a Quezon City jail after he had been collared for robbery-holdup. The column helped him earn his freedom as several congressmen came to his rescue, not to mention an Australian boxing official who came to Manila specifically to offer his help for the release of Magahin.
Well, Magahin is back in the news again. And, yes, for the same offense.
According to Alex P. Vidal, the international Filipino boxing judge based in Iloilo province, the Iloilo-born Magahin and a companion recently held up a passenger jeepney in Quiapo, Manila.
Wrote Vidal:
“Police cornered Magahin, 35, and his companion, Benson Jalosjos, while they were fleeing minutes after robbing at knife point a female passenger who screamed for help.
“At the Quiapo police station where the suspects were brought for detention, Magahin sought the help of boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.”
Vidal quoted Magahin as saying, “I want to ask the help of Manny Pacquiao to bail me out because he is my friend.”
Has Pacquiao come forward on behalf of Magahin?
That could not be confirmed as I started to file this column yesterday.
Magahin had previously served almost eight months in a Quezon City jail, also due to a robbery-holdup. It began in July 2004 after he and a companion robbed passengers of an FX taxi in Quezon City.
Wrote Vidal:
“WBF president Mick Croucher of Australia arrived in the country and visited Magahin in jail last Aug. 2, 2004. Croucher had offered a bail for the black mestizo ex-boxer but his release was delayed for several more months until the complainant decided to drop the case.
“Magahin had admitted to Croucher he was a drug addict and promised to reform if Croucher would facilitate his release.
“Boxing promoter Gabriel ‘Bebot’ Elorde Jr. had opposed Magahin’s release for fear that he might go back to his bad habits.”
It is said that upon his release from jail early this year, Magahin, unemployed and financially broke, reportedly gathered his gang and went back robbing jeepney passengers again to eke out a living.
On April 14, cops on patrol cornered him after a dramatic chase in Quiapo.
Magahin, called “The Black Mamba,” electrified the nation when he captured the WBF crown on March 25, 1995, by defeating Australian champion Jeff Malcolm in Iloilo City.
After losing his crown to Suwito Lagola in Sumatra, Indonesia, Magahin’s star started to fade. Magahin quit in 1997 after a disastrous defeat at the hands of Mexican Jaime Lerma.
He reappeared in 2000 in a headline-grabbing act in Manila when he knocked out a cell phone snatcher with a single punch to the face.
Since Magahin is a confessed drug user, he will always be short of money. Free him again and he’ll resume his evil ways.
Let us heed Bebot Elorde’s call: Keep Magahin off the streets.
Better yet, let’s rehabilitate Magahin. While under treatment, he could be harnessed to teach his fellow patients, the younger ones that is, the art of the sweet science. There will always be a diamond in the rough from inside drug rehabilitation centers since they teem with juveniles.
Who knows, Magahin’s formula of the single punch attack may yet help discover the next Manny Pacquiao.
