By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The thousands who jammed the Island City Mall Car Park in Tagbilaran City ( some one hour south of Manila by plane) last Saturday and remained for hours to watch an excellent fight card aptly titled "Battle of the Undefeateated" featuring some of the most promising young fighters in action was unmistakable evidence that Tagbilaran City and indeed the province of Bohol have joined Cebu as the hotbed of boxing in the Philippines.
Two wonderful individuals must be given all the credit for this remarkable development aside of course from Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao who, by his magnificent achievements in the ring has won the respect and admiration of the international boxing community for the skill and courage of our fighters and opened the door for many of them in the lucrative and prestigious US boxing scene.
Tony Aldeguer, the distinguished boxing patron whose passion for the sport and his consuming desire to give poor young kids a chance to hone their skills in a sport that opens the doors to a better life for them and their families and instills in them the virtues of discipline, dedication, sportsmanship and decency is surely the architect of the boxing renaissance alongside Pacquiao.
Aldeguer whose world-class training facility in Cebu impressed top executives of the great Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions - vice president and matchmaker Eric Gomez and adviser and international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz - sparked the Bohol adventure when he took under his fold the likes of the 19 year old ring sensation Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and 20 year old southpaw slugger Czar Amonsot, both proud products from Bohol. Aldeguer, behind his astute feel for the sport realized the potential in Bohol and soon set up a small gym in the capital, Tagbilaran City.
Aldeguer could not have found a better partner in the passionate quest for excellence and instilling the virtues and values that young fighters must live by if they are to succeed, other than sportsman Mayor Dan Neri Lim. Since they got together in a loose relationship that is founded on mutual respect and love for boxing and their
appreciation of what it can bring to young men from poor families, boxing has enjoyed an unprecedented boom in Bohol and Cebu.
Of course this could not have been achieved without the hard work and commitment of likeable promoter Sammy Gello-ani and dedicated and extremely talented trainers like Edito "Ala" Villamor who returns from every training stint with the ALA boxers at the Wild Card Gym with the knowledge and savy imbibed from working alongside 2003 "Trainer of the Year" Freddie Roach.
The explosive performance by undefeated 17 year old southpaw AJ Banal who scored a fifth round knockout over unbeaten Indonesian super flyweight champion Ali Rochmad who suffered his first defeat and indeed his first knockdown (there were three in all) after 12 wins with 9 of them coming by way of knockouts was the highpoint of a fight card that was one of the highlights of the fabulous Sandugo Festival.
The consistent support for boxing and Viva Sports top-rated weekly boxing show "The Main Event" on Sundays at 1:00 p.m. over RPN 9 by Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum by far, is also a tribute to the commitment of one of the flagship business enterprises of "Kapitan" Lucio Tan for a sport in which Filipinos can excel and the faith they have in our fighters.
The showing by a roster of other promising fighters including Along Denoy Nic Banal, Lito Jalnaiz, Leon Maratas and , Arnel Tadena among others was a testament to the amazing growth of boxing in Bohol evidenced by the support of the thousands most of whom stayed on their feet for hours and the worthy example set by Aldeguer and Mayor Dan Neri Lim. Our only wish is that there would be others who will follow in the footsteps of these two fine gentlemen-sportsmen.
