Japanese to lift ban on RP pugs

The ban on Filipino fighters in Japan will be lifted tomorrow but Games and Amusements Board (GAB) boxing chief Noli Flores said yesterday no official advice has been sent by the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) to the government agency.

Japan-based Cecile Solon-Minoriyama, a Filipina married to a Japanese boxing promoter, told The STAR in a long distance phonecall the other day that JBC executive secretary Shigeru Kojima confirmed the lifting of the ban. Minoriyama said the cancellation was reported in the June 15 issue of World Boxing Magazine, a monthly Japanese publication.

The JBC imposed the ban in February last year after trainer Henry Caputo and a certain Francis Tapang, who accompanied Filipino boxer Ricky Gamayo to fight in Tokyo, went TNT in Japan.

Boxing guru Joe Koizumi said the JBC ban was prompted by "too many scandals happening with illegal escapes and overstays of Philippine boxing people (who) disgracefully violate Japanese law." The only exceptions to the ban were Filipinos booked to fight in Oriental or world championship bouts.

GAB chairman Eduardo Villanueva spoke to Kojima at the World Boxing Council (WBC) convention in Thailand last year and proposed to draft a memorandum detailing measures to curtail the incidence of Japanese visa violations in connecting with foreign promotions.

Negotiations were stalled last February when Japanese immigration authorities located and deported a retired Filipino fighter Rey Paciones who had gone TNT in 1995. But Villanueva repeatedly assured JBC officials of the GAB’s support in cracking down on visa violators.

With the doors shut on Filipino fighters, Japanese promoters brought in boxers from Thailand and Indonesia to fill the vacuum. But on the whole, it was reported that the Thais and Indonesians were neither as competitive nor exciting as the Filipinos.

Flores said Villanueva and GAB Commissioners Emmanuel Palabrica and Angel Bautista finalized the memorandum last May 21 after several revisions and inputs from Kojima.

Among the major guidelines in the 10-point memorandum are:

• Only fighters rated by the GAB may see action in Japan. They must have won at least once in his last three 12, 10 or 8-round fights and it should’ve been within the 12-month period before the scheduled bout abroad.

• Fighters and their accompanying partners must be GAB license holders for at least two years. They must submit affidavits attesting to their pledge to return after the fight. The affidavits must contain personal data, forwarding addresses, contact persons, and other information to enable police authorities to establish reference points in the event of any visa violation.

• The fighter’s purse must be deposited with the JBC. A fourth of the purse shall be forwarded to the GAB within five working days from receipt of proof of the return of the FIlipino fighter’s party. Each member of the traveling group must sign a GAB release upon returning to the Philippines.

Severe sanctions, including the canceling of GAB licenses, will be imposed in the event of violations.

Meanwhile, Flores has directed Bukidnon promoter Leonel Lazarito to explain in writing why he signed a contract purporting to be Oriental lightweight champion Dennis Laurente’s manager in negotiating a $20,000 purse to defend the crown against Koita Manabe in Fukuoka on Aug. 27.

Laurente’s legitimate manager Johnny Elorde saw a copy of the contract and protested the misrepresentation to the GAB and JBC. The contract was signed by Lazarito as Laurente’s manager, a representative of the Seki Hiroyuki Boxing Gym, and witnessed by Mitsu Ishisuka.

Flores told The STAR that Lazarito denied signing the contract and insisted his signature was forged. Flores said Lazarito’s signature in his GAB license does not match with the supposed signature in the spurious contract.

Elorde said he has tried to contact Lazarito and Ishisuka, a Japanese who lives in Manila, but could not trace them.