Casino arena: Boxing's mecca

The soon-to-be operational Casino Filipino Amphitheater, designed as a state-of-the-art entertainment theater in the class of Las Vegas, opens its curtains to the viewing public for the first time when it hosts the Gerry Peñalosa- Pone Saengmorakot bout for the World Boxing Council international superflyweight championship May 27.

Actually, the event serves as a dry-run for the regular operations of the 5,000-seat amphitheater, which hopefully will be formally opened in December when all its facilities will have been put in place.

Once completed and fully refurbished, the Casino-Filipino Amphitheater will serve as mecca for entertainment, cultural and sporting events in the country.

The Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation, which runs the amphitheater, had agreed to open it temporarily to accommodate a request of the Philippine Sportswriters Association, which is staging the bout for the benefit of disabled boxers.

PAGCOR, headed by Alice Reyes, and San Miguel Beer are the sponsors.

It has put in P5.5 million to build temporary structures for the bout which also features two other title fights in its supporting card.

The matches pit Juanito Rubillar of the Philippines against Korean Do Yun Ra for the WBC international lightflyweight championship and Fillipinos Dino Olivetti and Edward Escriber for the Philippine superbantamweight crown.

When completed, the Casino Filipino Amphitheater will serve a multipurpose theater for Holywood-type promotions, including concerts, title fights, international derbies and even billiards tournaments. It will eventually be fully automated, with folding bleachers, ultra-modern locker rooms and dressing areas. It will cost P60 million to make it fully operational.

"The Casino amphitheater will set a new trend in boxing with emphasis on TV sponsorship and eventually, pay-per-view engagements. The gate receipts will just be gravy," said Rudy Salud, manager of Peñalosa and formerly PBA commissioner and WBC secretary general.

"The trend in boxing is to hold events in a place which doesn't require much space, like a hotel, and it's good for boxing because eventually our fighters will fight before local fans instead of going abroad where they oftentimes get raw deal," said Eddie Reyes, Pagcor senior branch manager.