By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Philippine Games and Amusements Board boxing division chief Noli Flores said today the GAB is ready to crackdown on unscrupulous managers and matchmakers as well as unlicensed and fake boxers following a series of scandals that have given the Philippines a bad image.
Flores told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today which unearthed some of the scandals that he would formally inform the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation about the anomalies and request that they be taken up at the next WBC convention in October.
Flores disclosed that retired boxer Joel Avila who posed as Tata Polinar in a fight in Saraburi, Thailand last May 27 and lost by a fifth round knockout to Medgoen Singsurat (3K Battery) in an Asian Boxing Council super flyweight title fight had been summoned to appear before the GAB legal division. Flores said Avila “has been given 15 days to answer since he was entitled to due process.”
However, should Avila fail to respond he would be banned forever. Flores also revealed that two other boxers Joselito Rivera whose license was cancelled in 2001 after he was found to have hepatitis B and Arex Montalban who didn’t have a license or GAB approval to fight in Thailand and were both mauled in terrible mismatches would be “banned by the GAB Board and all OPBF member countries would be informed that they have no license to fight.”
The OPBF under its president Frank Quill has expressed concern over the spate of “illegal activities” and said the GAB “needs to act.” Quill revealed that there were terrible mismatches in THailand and there was “a steady stream of mediocre fighters” cleared to fight in Japan often moving up in weight. He said “these fights should not be allowed” pointing out that the glaring mismatches in Thailand, Japan and Indonesia “is no longer boxing but an exercise in brutality.”
