The GAB dropped the ball!

Courtesy of http://theboxingtribune.com/

Having been given my own column to vent my feelings on the world of boxing I felt there was no better place to start than this weekend, or rather the past 7 days.

In late December Filipino promoter Aljoe Jaro sent the GAB (Games and Amusements Board) a list of matches he wanted to have on his recent show (January 11th). Last week however Jaro was told that 2 of the bouts, which included former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro, pictured, and former IBF Minimumweight champion Florante Condes, would not be sanctioned.

The GAB had had 3 weeks to act on the situation but they had left it until an article entitled "Two ex-world champions battle patsies" on Sun Star by Edri K. Anzar to act, giving Jaro less than a week to find replacement opponents.

Anzar, who has written about boxing for years, was describing both Pit Anacaya (8-22-2, 1) and Rey Morano (8-38-1, 1) as the patsies. Yes both men had losing records and both men were certainly limited but both were experienced and both had been training for their bouts. They were unlikely to win but they had been preparing, they had been focused on their more established opponents and they had been hoping to score career defining victories.

It's easy to forget however that a losing record can mean little. Sonny Boy Jaro himself had gone 0-3 in his last 3 contests including a loss to Gerpaul Valero, who started his career with a measly 1 win in his first 17 contests (1-13-3) whilst Condes, who had also lost his last 3 contests, was last beaten by Donny Mabao who was 20-20-1 entering that bout. Interestingly Valero, like many others, managed to turn his career around whilst Mabao returns to action in March to fight Ryuji Hara for the OPBF Minimumwight title.

I wonder what the GAB would have made of the Hara (16-0, 10) against Mabao (21-20-1, 4) bout. In fact I wonder what Edri Anzar would make of that bout, is Mabao a patsy? Less than 3 years ago Mabao was 17-20-1, surely he could never earn a chance at fighting for the OPBF title, right?...

Anyway, the GAB had forced Aljoe Jaro to replace both Anacaya and Morano with opponents who hadn't been training to fight the former champions, who hadn't been preparing to fight top tier fighters and in fact were just as bad, if not worse than Morano and Anacaya. Rather than the experienced losers that were scheduled to be in action we instead saw Condes taking out Marzon Cabilla (9-11-1, 4) and Sonny Boy Jaro taking out Charlie Cabilla (13-13-4, 2), both inside a round.

If Anacaya and Morano were "unacceptable" and "patsies"it's hard to explain what Marzon and Charlie Cabilla were.

Marzon had been stopped in 6 of his 10 prior losses, he had failed to win any of his last 6 bouts and had been stopped in 3 of those. In his only non-loss from his last 6 bouts he had had a technical draw with Jerson Luzarito, who went on to beat him in a rematch. Certainly that should have seen the GAB refuse this bout especially given the fact Marzon hadn't been preparing or training for a fight with such an accomplished fighter as Condes.

If Marzon's sanctioning for the fight was questionable than Charlie Cabilla's is even more questionable. He had been stopped in 9 of his 12 previous losses, including his last 4 bouts with an 86 second blow out loss to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam coming in his most recent contest. Given that Sonny Boy Jaro's last win came, via stoppage, over Wonjongkam one must ask why Cabilla was given the opportunity to fight Jaro.

Yes, Charlie Cabilla had won one of his last 6 bouts, beating Renante Rondina (3-12, 1) by decision, but he wasn't fit to get in with Jaro. Pit Anacaya might be a "professional loser" but he's one who knows how to look after himself having only been stopped 5 times in his 32 bout career.

What the GAB were doing beggars belief. Where they saying that the Cabilla's were, with out training for their famous opponents, more capable than Anacaya and Morano? Were they saying that Charlie and Marzon Cabilla were more suitable for Sony Boy Jaro and Florante Condes?

With the Cabilla's lasting a combined 275 seconds I need to call on the GAB not to answer questions but instead, sort their damned house out! It shouldn't have taken so long for them to have looked over the original matches, and they sure as hell shouldn't have sanctioned these bouts. It's a disgrace that the organisation made two giant mistakes here and lets be honest, they dropped the ball. They owe apologies to the promoter, the fans and the 6 fighters mentioned an they also need to change how they work.

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