The mess in the GAB boxing division

Scandals surrounding patent mismatches, contracts that are violated, substitution of boxers even in fight promotional posters, delayed publishing of GAB ratings and a host of other issues have continued to highlight the mess in the Games and Amusements Board boxing division under Dr. Nasser Cruz.

While the GAB is directly under the Office of the President, criticism is apparently  being ignored as  President Benigno Aquino III indicated in a recent statement.

The only seeming saving grace was when GAB chairman Ramon Guazon refused to sanction two horrendous mismatches in which two certified patsies were scheduled to face two former world champions forcing promoter and trainer, former boxer Aljoe Jaro to complain about the last-minute announcement of chairman Guazon that he did not approve and would not approve two mismatches in which former world champions Florante Condes and Sonny Boy Jaro were scheduled to fight “patsies” or certified “bums.”

 The story first broke in an article by boxing writer Edri Aznar which was re-printed in philboxing.com.

Based on Aznar’s report we checked with GAB chairman Guanzon on whether the fights had been approved considering the obvious mismatches. He promised to check with Boxing Division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz and inform us. He did, and in less than a couple of hours he said via text message “we have not approved and we will not approve” these fights.

In the planned fight card in Mandaluyong City, former IBF light flyweight champion Condes, who has a record of 25-8-1 with 21 knockouts, was being matched against southpaw Rey “Tiger” Morano who has a miserable ring record of 8 wins against 38 losses with one draw and one win by knockout. He had lost 12 of his last 13 fights.

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In the other bout, former WBC flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro, whose record stands at 34-13-5 with 24 knockouts, was set to face Pit Anacaya who had lost his last 15 fights and had a pathetic record of 8-22-2 with one knockout.
 
A protégé of Aljoe Jaro , Sonny Boy Jaro won the WBC flyweight title in a stunning upset of WBC "Fighter of the Year" Pongsaklek Wonjongkam via a 6th round TKO after sending the longtime Thai world champion to the canvas no less than four times on March 2, 2012.
 
Sonny Boy was scheduled to fight Anacaya for what was billed as a title showdown for the vacant Asian Boxing Federation super flyweight belt.

The Asian Boxing Federation or ABF is one of the latest additions to the growing number of minor organizations.

Ancaya's last win was a ten-round decision over Donnie Mabao in June 2009 while Morano's last win was in June 2011 when he beat Sherwin Lungay.    
 
When Yahoo Philippines, after a conversation with Chairman Guanzon reported his decision not to sanction the two fights, Aljoe Jaro naturally aired his displeasure over the GAB decision stating that he had “made an application for this fight card and filed it with the GAB three weeks ago. They should have looked at it and told me earlier that they will not sanction the fight.”

However, Tony Comia of the boxing division claimed that matchmaker Art Mones was told when he filed the original request that the two main bouts were regarded as “mismatches” and since the original fight date was moved, there was no word on any changes.

Regrettably, the two substitute opponents were stopped in the very first round, raising questions on what, if anything, had changed.

Jaro scored a 1st round knockout over 22-year-old Marzon Cabilla whose record dropped to 9-11-1 with 4 knockouts. It was Cabilla’s fourth loss in a row, having lost by an 8th round TKO to Jerson Luzarito on December 8, 2012, an 8th round unanimous decision to Tetsuma Hayashi last July 6, 2013 and a 3rd round TKO to  Juren Labordo in his last fight on October 12, 2013.

Condes won by a first-round TKO over  23-year-old Charlie Cabilla, whose record dropped to a mediocre 13-13-4 with two knockouts.

It was Cabilla’s fifth straight loss with his previous four defeats all being by TKO, including a first-round knockout to former world champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam on September 28, 2012, which means that Cabilla hadn’t fought for more than one year and three months.

Comia sought to justify the last-minute substitutions, claiming that Marzon Cabilla was rated although his name doesn’t appear in the last GAB ratings posted on its website which was for the month of October while Charlie Cabilla was a ten round fighter, as if it makes a real difference.

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Another scandal which was discovered prior to a fight card in Vera Cruz, Mexico, billed as Mexico versus the Philippines and which respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer brought to the attention of chairman Guanzon, was the use of  photos of ALA boxers WBO light flyweight champion Donnie Nietes, former WBO/WBA flyweight champion Milan Melindo and retired boxer Reman Salem. Their photos were falsely used in place of the three Filipino boxers who fought on the card promoted by Reginaldo and Oswaldo Kuchile Promociones del Pueblo.

ALA Promotions asked GAB chairman Guanzon to conduct an immediate investigation into the irregular use of the photos pointing out that “this gross misrepresentation should not be left unheeded.”
 
As expected the three Filipino boxers were all beaten although promoter/manager Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde claims that his fighter Vergel Nebran (11-7-1, 7 KO’s) was knocked out by a low blow in the 8th round of a ten round bout against former WBC super flyweight champion Tomas “Gusano” Rojas (42-14-1, 28 knockouts) although Nebran did put up a tough fight.

Elorde showed Yahoo Philippines a video of the fight and he did seem to have a case as the uppercut by Rojas appeared to catch Nebran below the belt and the fighter went down clutching his groin in pain while the referee, instead of giving Nebran time to recover, counted him out.

Rojas is looking for a possible title shot and appeared to be fading in the eighth round when he was cut and then landed the low blow.

But what is worse is that we learned from contacts in Mexico that Nebran was originally scheduled to fight bantamweight Julio Ceja. But when he arrived in Mexico he was informed that there had been a switch and he would face Rojas, who is a super bantamweight which was one division higher than Nebran’s regular weight division.

We requested the GAB Boxing Division to look into this alleged serious breach of contract.

In the two other matches, former WBO light flyweight champion Ramon “Principe” Garcia (20-4-1, 12 KO’s) overcame Mark Duran who had a record of 11-10-2 with 5 knockouts in what was described as a lackluster twelve-rounder while Mexican super featherweight Nery Saguilan (27-4-1, 10 KO’s) scored a unanimous ten-round decision over Adones Aguelo whose record was 20-8-2 with 12 knockouts with two judges scoring it for Saguilan 96-94 and the third judge having the Mexican ahead 97-93.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.