GAB Says All Precautions Were Taken in Maquinto Clash
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
THE Games and Amusements Board said it can’t to be blamed for the tragedy that befell undefeated flyweight Karlo Maquinto, who collapsed after an action-packed fight against Mark Joseph Costa.
The fight, which was promoted by Gerry Penalosa, ended in a majority draw in Caloocan City last Saturday.
The 21-year-old Maquinto, who was undefeated with a record of 8-0-1, with 6 knockouts, won his last fight by a fifth-round technical knockout over Argie Toquero last Dec. 11, 2011.
Costa had a record of 4-4-2 with 1 knockout.
GAB Commissioner Aquil Tamano, who acted immediately after the Manila Standard informed him of the accident, said he ordered an official report from the GAB representatives, headed by Tony Comia of the boxing division.
“Maquinto, who is known to be a slow starter, traded punches with Costa and was knocked down twice in the second round. He recovered and resumed engaging with Costa, who was also caught by some of the hard punches of Maquinto and was near to being knocked down, but was saved by the bell in the same round,” Comia reported to Tamano.
The report also said Costa was deducted one point by referee Eduardo Nobleza because his mouthpiece was dislodged three times—a tactic often used by fighters in trouble.
The GAB report added: “The crowd appreciated the action-filled bout up to the last round of the eight-round bout. After the announcement of the decision, Maquinto walked to his corner but collapsed on the way. He was immediately taken by a stand-by ambulance to the Far Eastern University Hospital by Dr. Redentor Viernes, with assistance from the Rescue Medical Team deployed by the city government of Caloocan.”
Dr. Viernes, the GAB’s Medical Division chief, told Manila Standard that he had spoken to the doctors attending to Maquinto.
“The prognosis is not good. He (Maquinto) has a hemorrhage which is pushing the brain too much,” doctors told Viernes.
He added doctors were hoping they could decompress the brain medically to stabilize the situation, so it will not be pushed downwards. But it didn’t work and Maquinto was in a comatose and at Level 3 of a possible 15, which is not good at all.
“They cannot operate because of the fighter’s present condition,” Dr. Viernes said. “Their hands are tied.”
Commissioner Tamano and GAB officials, along with promoter Penalosa, the former two-division world champion, reviewed the fight, which was covered by GMA-7, to get a better insight into what happened.
“For the past eight years at the GAB, I haven’t been involved (in such an incident) and I really felt bad over the weekend. It is the bad side of boxing,” said Dr. Viernes
The doctor said that the fighters are not insured and that during the time of Chairman Eric Buhain, he tried to invite insurance firms to insure boxers against such accidents, but that nobody wanted to take the risk.
“Nobody showed up, because it’s very risky,” said Dr. Viernes.
Tamano said he is discussing ways and means to prevent such accidents from happening, even though all precautions were taken by the GAB and it was clearly an unfortunate accident.
