Iloilo-based writer Alex Vidal, a licensed boxing referee and judge, is closely monitoring Magahin’s plight and leading a crusade for sympathizers to come to his rescue.
Magahin, 34, has only himself to blame for his downfall. He quit the ring after losing to Jaime Lerma in a bid to regain the WBF 147-pound title in 1996 and was never the same again. Magahin, born in Olongapo and raised in Iloilo, found no direction in his life. A high school dropout, he couldn’t find a decent job and turned to drugs.
Vidal recalled that in 2000, Magahin resurfaced in the news after flooring a cellphone snatcher with an uppercut at the Harrison Plaza parking lot where he worked as a watch-your-car boy.
"His heroism reached the attention of then WBF supervisor Jack Rennie of Australia," wrote Vidal. "Rennie was shocked to learn that Magahin had become a parking space attendant. Where are those people who benefited when Magahin was still world champion, Rennie asked. He told me the government should have provided Magahin with a livelihood or pension being a former sports icon."
Magahin’s ex-trainer Marlon Lumacad, however, said he has no pity for the Filipino-black American mestizo.
"When I saw him in Adriatico (a few months back), I invited him for lunch but he asked for cash instead," Lumacad related to Vidal. "When I was about to give him P100, he grabbed the P500 bill in my wallet so I got mad and told him to get lost. Let him stay in jail. He’s a drug user. Putting him in jail will keep him out of drugs and it will be for his own good."
A bail of P100,000 has been set to free Magahin but nobody has stepped up to pay the bond.
Magahin’s foster father Roland, a fruits vendor in the Iloilo Terminal Market, said, "I raised him like a son and now, look what he did."
Rep. Raul Gonzalez, Jr., told Vidal he will push for a House inquiry of Magahin’s case "to determine if government has neglected a retired athlete who gave glory to the country."
WBF president Mick Croucher of Australia e-mailed Vidal recently and said he will personally visit Magahin in jail.
"I will be making a contribution out of my own bank account and not of the WBF," said Croucher who plans to fly in this month. "I am saddened to hear of the situation of a great former WBF champion who deserves the respect that he once got as a great Filipino fighter."
Magahin was a former national amateur titlist who at the age of 14, reached the quarterfinals of the 1984 World Cup junior championships in Havana. He turned pro in 1990 and three years later, sent Rolando Navarrete into permanent retirement with a fifth round stoppage. In 1995, Magahin won the WBF crown on a decision over Jeff Malcolm of Australia but lost it to Suwito Lagola in Sumatra a few months later. Lagola was stripped of the crown when he refused to defend it against Magahin in a mandatory rematch. Magahin and Lerma were then tapped to dispute the vacant throne.
If Croucher bails out Magahin, what next? He could work as a bouncer in a nightclub or a bodyguard for a tycoon or a boxing trainer. But if he’s addicted to drugs, whatever money he earns will just go up in smoke. Magahin needs special attention, rehabilitation and counsel.
Maybe, Lumacad is right. If Magahin is homeless and desperate, he’s probably better off in jail. That’s a sad commentary on a former world champion’s life.
Go said it is unfair to accuse him of coercing National Sports Association (NSA) presidents into signing a manifesto of unity and endorsement of a rival ticket pushing for Philippine Equestrian Federation president Jose (Peping) Cojuangco to run for POC president.
"I promised Mr. (Frank) Elizalde (International Olympic Committee representative for the Philippines) we will not do to Dayrit what Dayrit did to Cristy (Ramos) and me," said Go. "We will not cut short his term. We will not take out his positions of importance like what he did to me. NSA presidents are not tanga. They cannot be bought. I cannot force anyone to sign. If Dayrit thinks he has done a good job, he should sleep well. But why is he worried?"
Go said he felt alluded to when Dayrit said someone maneuvered to keep the first Southeast Asian Games Federation meeting out of the newspapers last March. "I had nothing to do with that," said Go. "I have no control of newspapers. It’s their fault for not informing reporters that the meeting would take place. He is overestimating my influence."
For his part, Dayrit said NSAs should unite, focus on the work at hand, and forget politics.
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