30 days mandatory rest proposed for PH boxers

Despite the global popularity of ring icon Manny Pacquiao, professional boxing in the Philippines is ironically on a steady decline.

Games and Amusements Board chair Abraham Kahlil Mitra noticed the alarming slide on the number of Filipino pro boxers along with the frequency of local fights organized by promoters.

“Sadly, there’s a decline of about 50 percent on pro licensed boxers as well as boxing promotions, which itself has also gone down by 50 percent,” said Mitra, a former provincial governor of Palawan. “Boxing promotions have mellowed down, weakened a bit.”

Mitra recently met with boxing promoters and managers to thresh out possible solutions and curb the downward trend.

The GAB chief found that several boxers have opted to jump out of the ring and look for other jobs elsewhere while promoters have not been as aggressive in putting together an attractive fight card.

“Of course we’re happy that there’s a resurgence because of Senator Pacquiao,” said Mitra. “He might fight 2 to 3 times more, but we cannot just focus on our superstar. We have to develop new Manny Pacquiaos.”

According to Mitra, promoters and managers have proposed to reduce the rest period of boxers from the mandatory 45 days to 30 days, which the professional sports regulatory agency will most likely approve to increase the number of possible fights a boxer can have.

It was also brought up that the Philippine rankings should be stretched from 15 to a list of 20 boxers. Only those who are included in the Philippine rankings are allowed by the GAB to fight overseas.

The proposed compulsory rest period doesn’t apply to boxers who got knocked out in the ring.