Remembering Baby Gustilo - SPORTING CHANCE by Joaquin M. Henson

Last week, I wrote about Japanese newspaperman Yasuhiro Kojima’s search for relatives of the late Loreto (Baby) Gustilo, a former Japanese flyweight boxing champion who died in Osaka last Nov. 2 at the age of 79.

Kojima flew to Iloilo City to bring Gustilo back home. Gustilo was cremated and Kojima brought his remains in a urn from Osaka. Finding no relatives, Kojima left the urn at the Our Lady of the Assumption church in Barangay Obrero, Iloilo City, care of Fr. Maurillo Silva.

Gustilo went to fight in Japan in 1941 and left behind a wife, Jovita Abagatnan who was pregnant with their first child. When World War II broke out, Gustilo was stranded in Japan and never returned to the Philippines. He continued to fight in Japan and even won the Japanese flyweight title.

Flash Elorde’s widow Laura remembered meeting Gustilo in Osaka in 1957.

During his trip here a few weeks back, Kojima contacted Mrs. Elorde on possible leads in his search for Gustilo’s relatives. Mrs. Elorde referred Kojima to me, thinking I would be interested in the story. Mrs. Elorde was right — I told her I would write about it in The STAR.

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The day I wrote about Kojima’s search, I got a breakthrough call from Rolando Mara, an employee at the Coca-Cola sales office in San Francisco del Monte.

Mara, 53, introduced himself as the half-brother of Gustilo’s only son, Reynaldo Buhat, with his wife Jovita. Mara is the eldest of seven children born to Jovita and her second husband. Jovita, 79, lives with Mara’s family in Angono, Rizal, and is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. She is bed-ridden and unable to recognize even her children.

Mara said his mother never spoke of Gustilo.

Reynaldo, 60, was born after Gustilo left for Japan. Father and son never saw each other until sometime in the 1970s, recalled Mara, when Reynaldo took a trip to Osaka to meet Gustilo for the first time. According to Mara, Reynaldo had asked a Japanese friend to try to locate his father. The friend found Gustilo and arranged for the Boy Scouts of Japan to sponsor Reynaldo’s trip to Osaka. Mara said Reynaldo stayed with his father in Osaka for a week then returned home.

Reynaldo is now in Saudi Arabia working in a desalination plant with three of his nine children. His wife and other children live in Calamba.

Mara promised to contact Reynaldo’s wife so that we could meet. Reynaldo has several pictures of his father, added Mara, and his wife may know about Gustilo’s life in Osaka. Mara recalled Reynaldo saying Gustilo worked as a bouncer in a nightclub after he retired from boxing.

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Boxing judge Alex Villacampa, 84, vaguely remembered watching Gustilo fight in smokers at the Mandaluyong cockpit before the war.

"He was a counterpuncher," said Villacampa. "He wasn’t a big puncher. He was more of a boxer. When I saw him fight, he wasn’t championship caliber. He must have gotten better in Japan because as I read, he became the Japanese flyweight champion."

Fred Sanz, a lawyer, also phoned to share his memories of Gustilo.

"I was about eight or nine years old and I used to watch fights in Roxas City and Iloilo with my uncle during the pre-war era," related Sanz. "Gustilo was one of the fighters I saw. He was a crowd favorite, very famous. He moved like Elorde. He wasn’t a knockout artist but he could punch. He was an accurate puncher, clever. He never withdrew

from a toe-to-toe fight. He was aggressive and executed with style what he wanted to do in the ring."

Sanz said as a fan, he followed Elorde’s career from when he fought six-rounders. Because of the proliferation of "world" titles today, his enthusiasm for the fight game has died down. He said two or three years ago — in Luisito Espinosa’s prime, the former world bantamweight and featherweight champion would have shut up the English braggart Naseem Hamed.

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Meanwhile, Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) President Frank Quill of Australia has confirmed a donation of P50,000 for Marty Elorde’s cancer-stricken fighter Gregie Simbajon. Quill said he hopes World Boxing Council (WBC) President Jose Sulaiman will also come to Simbajon’s aid through the governing body’s Friendly Hand Foundation.

Elorde said Simbajon has received assistance from Tony Aldeguer (5,000), Mr. and Mrs. Benjie Puyat (P5,000), Sachi Takahata (10,000 Yen), Mr. and Mrs. Russell Lee ($200), Mr. and Mrs. Troy Jimenez (P1,000), Andres Obieta (herbal tea), and Jose Betito (herbal juice).

Additionally, Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Dominador Cepeda directed Boxing Chief Noli Flores to release P5,000 from the Boxers Welfare Fund for Simbajon last Monday.