Bebot Elorde’s heritage

Gabriel "Bebot" Elorde, Jr. is often a very lonely man. You would be, too, if you were the only one who regularly staged international boxing championships in your country on a regular basis.

"It gets frustrating," Elorde told The STAR. "We try so hard to put up world title fights here, and we often lose money, but we wouldn’t mind if we got support from media, sponsors and the government. And people don’t recognize our good new boxers because the media doesn’t support them."

Elorde, son of former bootblack and seven-year undefeated world junior lightweight and lightweight champion Flash Elorde, put up Elorde International Productions in 1989. He has built up the names of Rolando Navarete, Luisito Espinosa and even Manny Pacquiao. He is currently promoting a card including three World Boxing Council international championships. International championships are titles for contenders ranked 11th to 20th, and a title guarantees promotion into the top 10.

With boxing in his blood, it constantly stymies Elorde to realize how hard it is to bring talented new pugs into the public’s consciousness. The public, though infatuated with IBF super bantamweight champion Pacquiao, doesn’t recognize many other hard-working boxers who are clambering up the ladder in world rankings.

"Look at Malcolm Tuñacao," Elorde points out, the main draw in his July 19 card. "Tuñacao was a WBC flyweight champion. When Pacquiao lost the title, Tuñacao surprised everyone by winning it back. He’s the number 2 contender in the WBC, so we’re just waiting for a title shot. But people don’t seem to know him."

Elorde’s problem was noted by Sen. Robert Barbers of the Upper Chamber’s Committee on Games, Amusements and Sports. Elorde is waiting for the good senator to make good his promise to help. His newest challenge is to sustain the well-produced "Ringside @ Elorde" broadcast over IBC-13 on Monday nights. This is a rare opportunity to see up and coming sluggers in action.

One main problem that plagues Filipino fighters is lack of long-term focus. Unlike in his father’s day, today’s breed of boxers have been caught up in the commercialism of this age. With all the available championships out there, and the large sums available to international campaigners, boxers tend to relax once they’ve reached the top.

"My Dad used to say that, while you’ve got the title, you won’t realize how valuable it is," Elorde recalls, closing his fist around an imaginary championship belt. "But when it’s gone, you realize how much it changed your life."

Elorde also recounts how he got in touch with a recently retired Filipino former world champion to promote a comeback fight in the country. Elorde offered a generous purse of $10,000 plus expenses, but the fighter’s management balked at the amount. Now, the boxer has no other takers and is unable to maintain a job on the West Coast.

EIP also has a vast library of former Filipino world champions in action. Perhaps they should take a cue from the late Cus D’Amato, who trained Floyd Patterson (probably the world’s lightest heavyweight champion), Jose Torres (the world’s first Hispanic world champion) and, of course, Mike Tyson. D’Amato used his collection of over 3,000 fight films of greats like John L. Sullivan, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali for Tyson to feast on. As a result, the younger, more disciplined version of Iron Mike became the world’s youngest heavyweight champion. The library has since been purchased by ESPN.

In the United States, there are also videotapes on Filipino boxers who fought for a living there during the Depression era, including Pancho Villa and his compatriots.

"It’s hard to keep on "investing" all the time," Elorde smiles, using the term he coined to refer to their losses. "But it will be very hard for us to help boxers if we have to keep doing it on our own. We definitely need help."

Perhaps this is the start for those in government to heed the call of the boxing community, which has brought much glory and inspiration to our countrymen in the most difficult times.

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