Boxing Booms

We can’t help but cite the rise of boxing which has continued on its momentum of reaching never-reached before levels. With the sport’s current boom, we hope the country can churn out more world champions in the near future.

At Pinoy Pride 26, we just realized that a boxing card will survive and do well even without the likes of Donnie Nietes, Milan Melindo, Genesis Servania, Merlito Sabillo and Boom Boom Bautista. When the Pagara brothers Jayson and “Prince” Albert were named as the main event boxers for last week’s card, we had our questions on whether or not they would be able to draw a crowd. With AJ Banal and Jimrex Jaca there, we felt a little bit more comfortable as both have a following, but the big question was if the Pagara’s could bring in a crowd. Well we all know what happened, don’t we? Jayson, Albert and AJ were all impressive in knocking out their respective foes in a night of KO’s at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino which had its “usual” boxing crowd, and that means a full-house. TV ratings of the Sunday morning telecast were impressive, outdoing the TV program on the rival network. With 26 editions in the bag, Pinoy Pride has paved the way for the boxing-for-TV market to expand and create more opportunities.

ALA Promotions had a head start in the market by being more creative and innovative and everyone else is following suit. Pinoy Pride has now become a benchmark for all of Philippine boxing, and this has meant the industry picking up.

Other boxing outfits are now more aggressive, knowing that there is a boxing market to be tapped. Last night, there were two big cards being held separately in Davao and Tubod, Lanao del Norte. Manny Pinol, a long-time boxing man, put up last night’s event in Davao, while Minuro Harada brought in Marlon Tapales of the Rex Wakee Salud Gym to topbill the fights in Tubod. Former world champion Sonny Boy Jaro topbilled the Davao card that was set up by Pinol with the support of Sonshine Sports Management, a new venture of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Adonis Cabalquinto and Lorenzo Villanueva were also featured. In Tubod, Harada staged a big ten-fight event with Tapales defending his WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title against Tanzanian Fadhili Majiha. The Davao card has Pastor Quiboloy’s TV network as its broadcast partner. I’m not too sure if the Tubod card has a TV partner but we’re certain that Lanao del Norte is supporting its own son in Tapales.

 With all these, what does ALA do next? While everyone else works on their local events, ALA goes international. Next up us the “Duel in Dubai” in August, with ABS-CBN as its partner anew. Then it’s the U.S.A. sometime in November with Nietes targeted to defend his WBO light flyweight championship. ALA makes the logical next step of raising the bar for the market and it will take some time before the others can do the same.

As a whole, this is an excellent development for the sport. This means more revenues for boxing promoters, more opportunities for the nation’s boxers and more boxing action for us boxing fans. We must remember that there are many world-class boxers just waiting to be discovered. All they need are the proper breaks and timing. Our wish is that this development also helps professionalize the boxing industry: from boxing management, promotions, media relations, TV production to over-all efficiency.

With ALA Promotions as a benchmark, we hope that the other boxing outfits also follow suit and improve their craft by not treating this as if it were just a backyard hobby or activity. If everyone can level up, we can truly have a boxing industry that can rival the best out there. They can even target to be better than ALA Promotions and rival them in a friendly competition among promoters for our own local version of Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. Thinking of a similar case, I can still vividly remember how the entry Cebu Pacific in the airlines industry perked up the market, brought in other players, and made Philippine Airlines serious in defending its turf. The result? Fares are now down, airlines fight for passengers, and travelling has become more convenient. Over-all, the airline industry has (literally) taken off to incredible heights.

Boxing too, is set for an amazing take-off. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

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Happy birthday to Popoy Navs, Caecent Magsumbol & Coach Jed Cabellon! >>> You can reach me at [email protected].