By Nick Giongco
As Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum successfully brings back big-time boxing in Las Vegas, efforts to do the same thing gets in motion when the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) faces the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to defend why it’s also time for the country to follow Arum’s lead.
GAB chairman Baham Mitra was slated to make a presentation Wednesday in a bid to allow professional boxing shows to stage events while observing strict safety measures in conformity with IATF guidelines.
Under the proposal, Mitra said boxing matches will be held behind-closed-doors and only necessary personnel would be in
attendance apart from the fighters and their cornermen, ring and commission officials, paramedics and select media.
The GAB said the boxing setup is also applicable to MMA and kickboxing shows.
“As an extreme alterative,” according to the GAB, scoring can be done online on a real-time basis.
“Live streaming shall be encouraged so that judges’ scorecards shall be sent/relayed to the GAB and other supervising officials through internet platform,” the GAB said in the document that Mitra will read out before IAF officials.
Since the GAB is a regulatory agency, it doesn’t have the mandate to help in providing funds needed for the testing that will be administered to the fighters and their cornermen.
A memorandum of agreement with the Red Cross is being considered as a fall-back to help the promoters defray the costs of putting up cards since the GAB “doesn’t have funds” and “the DOH is is hard-pressed as well for funds,” said Mitra.
“Besides, the DOH prioritizes the indigent sector of society (for testing),” he said.
A Cebu-based outfit has expressed its desire to stage fights as soon as the GAB gets the go-signal while one group in Metro Manila is likewise keen on bringing boxing back to life the way Arum did it in the US.
Yesterday at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Arum’s Top Rank Inc. successfully held a six-fight card that observed safety guidelines imposed by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Next up is another Top Rank event this Thursday (Friday in the Philippines) and on June 16, 18 and 20.
The show on June 18 will feature Filipino fighter Mike Plania, who fights out of JC Mananquil’s Stable of General Santos City.
