The Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Party-list on Monday hailed boxing legend Nonito Donaire for successfully defending his WBC bantamweight title.
“Clearly, Nonito has a lot of fight in him. We congratulate him for his very decisive and show-stopping defense of his WBC bantamweight belt. That knockout should erase any doubt that he is deserving of the title,” said PBA Party-list spokesperson Atty. Migs Nograles.
The Davaoeña lawyer said that should boxing be dropped in the list of games in the Olympics, amateur boxers could always turn pro and build their careers.
It was Donaire’s first successful defense of the title that he snatched from Nordine Ouubali back in May, with the Filipino fighter now winning four of his last five fights.
Meanwhile, Nograles also lauded Filipino boxer Marlon Tapales who knocked down Japan’s Hiroaki Teshigawara three times to secure a second-round knockout in the IBF junior featherweight world title elimination in the undercard fight.
“It was inspiring to watch Marlon pour his heart and soul into that fight. At kitang-kita naman natin na he was the better fighter dahil third round pa lang, tapos na ang laban,” she said.
Tapales was on the warpath at the start of the second round and landed a right cross that sent his Japanese foe down for the third time, during which referee Jack Reiss stopped the count at six.
“Nagpapasalamat tayo kina Nonito at Marlon para sa kanilang maagang pamasko sa ating mga Pilipino, lalung lalo na sa mga boxing aficionados. Their back-to-back wins is sure to inspire our boxers also dreaming of making it big in the international arena,” Nograles said.
“Their experience in amateur fighting would make them very considerable foes in the world of professional boxing.”
The Davaoeña lawyer said that should boxing be dropped in the list of games in the Olympics, amateur boxers could always turn pro and build their careers.
“Of course, we want boxing to be retained as an Olympic event, but should the unthinkable happen and it would be permanently removed as an Olympic sport, hindi naman ibig sabihin ay katapusan na ng mundo para sa ating boxers,” she said.
“They could always go pro. Their experience in amateur fighting would make them very considerable foes in the world of professional boxing,” she added.
