By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
Recently, Bombo Radyo – Dagupan asked my stand on the call
of some quarters for the total ban of amateur boxing in the provincial and regional games participated by students in public and private
schools.
Protective Gears for Amateur Boxers |
The call, I said, is like swathing a fly with a sledge
hammer.
“You kill boxing in these categories; you kill our chances
to get medals in the Olympic,” I hissed in a phone patch.
The death of 16 year-old Jonas Joshua Garcia who fell in a
coma in a boxing match organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) at the
Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association in Iba, Zambales was an exception. The doctor commissioned by the DepEd in that competition should be
investigated for negligence or incompetence and if found guilty should be given
corresponding sanctions by the DepEd and the Philippine Regulatory Commission.
Why kill the sport that give us global honor in Manny
Pacquiao and others when it was the fault of school officials who did not
observe due diligence?
Medical Guidelines in
Boxing
As we know DepEd amateur boxing rules dictate, just like
those rules in the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, that before a
pug boxes he first contacted the school’s physician (1) to obtain a thorough
physical examination, (2) to assure that no pre-existing medical conditions
exist that would pose an unusual risk to the participant, and (3) obtain
independent medical advice concerning the short and long-term risks of
participation.
We should not rash to condemn boxing as a killer contact
sport. Is Tae Kwan Do, Wrestling, Wushu, or arnis contact sports too? Then son of a gun, they
should be banned too!
Boxing is No. 23 Less
Dangerous Sport
Despite the obvious risks involved in any contact sport, a
U.S National Safety Council accident report ranked amateur boxing 23rd on its
list of injury-producing sports and rated it the safest of all contact sports
...safer than football, wrestling, gymnastics and in-line skating.
According to Cantu, Boxing and Medicine, Human Kinetics Illinois, studies say that amateur boxing's fatality rate is 1.3 fatalities per 100,000 participants. Compare this to the fatality rates for college football (3), scuba diving (11), mountaineering (51) and sky-diving (123).
According to Cantu, Boxing and Medicine, Human Kinetics Illinois, studies say that amateur boxing's fatality rate is 1.3 fatalities per 100,000 participants. Compare this to the fatality rates for college football (3), scuba diving (11), mountaineering (51) and sky-diving (123).
Geez whiz if that should be the cases then we should ban too mountaineering and sky- diving since they kill more
people than boxing if that kind of argument was the Raison d'etre (main reason) of those Filipino and foreign skeptics.
Protective Guidelines in Amateur Boxing
Before a child is
given a green light by the doctor to box the following rules guide him :
(1) Amateurs
box 3 and 4 round bouts, not 12 round bouts as in the professional or pros; (2) Amateurs box 2 minute rounds, not 3 minute
rounds as in the pros; (3) Amateurs use
10 and 12 ounce shock-absorbing gloves in competition. Pros use 6 and 8 ounce shock-transmitting
gloves; (4) Amateurs wear headgear to protect ears, forehead and cheekbones. Headgear is prohibited in pro boxing;
(5) Amateurs wear jerseys during bouts,
to prevent gloves from transferring sweat to the opponent's eyes; (6) Referees in amateur bouts make liberal use of
the "standing 8 count" to protect boxers. The standing 8 count gives the referee time
to assess the ability of a boxer to defend himself or herself after a hit or
knockdown. Up to three standing 8s can
be administered to a given boxer without the bout being stopped (unless in the
same round). This encourages liberal use
of the standing 8. Referees also have
the power to stop a bout anytime they feel a boxer is overmatched -- before the
boxer gets hurt or knocked down; (7)
Amateur boxers must undergo a medical exam by a licensed medical doctor
both before and after each bout. Physicians performing these exams have the
right to "restrict" boxers, i.e. prevent them from sparring and
fighting for 30, 60, 90 or even 180 days following suspected concussions or
other injuries; (8) Amateurs are matched
up according to THREE criteria to assure fairness -- weight, age AND experience
level; (9) Any one of 10 different
people can stop a bout at any time -- the referee, the ring doctor, either
boxer, either boxer's corner man, the judges and the sanction holder (event host).
The purpose of these is to protect the child against the
repetitive concussion that can result to brain dysfunction (so-called
"punch-drunk syndrome") and possible neurological deficits and
Parkinsonism later in life. These conditions are well-documented among some
professional boxers and many professional football players.
Injustice
to cite Muhammad Ali for the ban
And that’s where we have to discuss here the fate of the greatest
champion of all times Muhammad Ali whose slur and other demeanor from
Parkinson diseases have disturbed a lot of folks every time they saw him in public.
It is almost certain that Parkinson’s syndrome inflicted
Ali. But we could not compare the state of Ali to Little Juan de la Cruz who
fights in the amateur league.
According to USA Boxing, Inc. Ali fought 105 amateur and
Olympic bouts (100-5) and 61 professional bouts (56-5) during his career. That is the equivalent of a staggering 600 amateur
bouts in terms of total ring time.
Moreover, Ali fought the best amateurs in six Golden Gloves tournaments,
four national Golden Gloves and AAU tournaments, and in the 1960 Olympic Games. Finally, he fought for 21 years against the
heaviest punchers of this planet (that could shame those pity-patter bitching
punchin’ heavy weight pugs today) like
the monster hitter George Foreman (whose right riveting upper cut power saw Joe
Fraizer jerked up by half-foot from the dais before he was knocked out cold in the 2nd Round.
You Mayweather and Pacquiao fans and apologists go and check, pronto, this
phenomenon at YouTube for you to confirm) perennial nemesis Joe Frazier,Sonny Liston, Ken
Norton and Leon Spinks.
Amateur Boxing has Short Rounds
Amateur careers, on the other hand, tend to be very short.
Few reach open division level and, of those who do, few reach national
competition. Indeed, among the active boxers in most in Indiana and Kentucky
clubs in the U.S, the average experience
level is less than 2 years with the club and less than 24 total minutes in the
ring.
That’s why 8th world division champions Manny
Pacquiao beg that reasons prevail among the advocates of the ban that it is not an answer.
“The answer isn’t to cancel boxing. This is where we get
fighters for the Olympics. We just have to take the proper precautions,” he
said in a television interview.
****
Oh by the way, recently I was at
the residence of spouses Jun Calaguio and the former Imelda Alba at Brgy.
Gabon, Calasiao with their pretty and sultry Hong Kong Chinese female band
singers. Imelda, a town mate in Mindanao, has been making raves and waves in Hong Kong’s
exclusive club singing pop and jazz to V.I.Ps there like former president
Bill Clinton, actors Bruce Willis and Nicolas Cage, King Hussein of Jordan, to
name a few.
Son of a gun, she got pictures
with these folks rubbing shoulders with her at her FaceBook’s account.
Imelda Alba Calaguio (extreme left) of Gabon, Calasiao struts her singing prowess with her two Chinese Hong-kong band mates in the place. |
“Those who patronize our club are
exclusive members only who paid U.S $44 thousand membership fee,” she told me
in a huddle.
Imelda told me she owned some of
the instruments used by some members of the famous Bossing Band that performs
at the Mint Club in Dagupan City.
“Two of the members there are my
brother-in-laws,” she said.
Imelda’s husband Jun plays the
keyboard while her father in law plays like Kenny G the saxophone in Hong Kong.
I and Imelda strutted our pieces too with the
Bossing Band there led by its amiable manager-drummer Robert Erfe-Mejia.
I told Robert that I was a
frustrated wannabe rock singer until column writing caught me he he.
“Pag hindi ako umalis sa
Mindanao, siguro kumakanta ako sa mga lamayan (wake) doon as my livelihood,”
I jocularly told Robert who was given a high-end (forgot the brand name) drummer sticks by the Calaguio couples.
Imelda and Jun Calaguio although
they are in Hong Kong still oversee the famous perennial Calaguio Orchestra in
Pangasinan that caters to fiesta all over Pangasinan.
“I spent more than P4 million for
the instruments alone of the orchestra to be competitive in the business,”
Imelda told me.
(You can read my selected
columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You
can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).
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