FVR guest of honor at Elorde awards

Former President Fidel V. Ramos has accepted the invitation of the Elorde family to be the guest of honor and speaker at the seventh Gabriel "Flash" Elorde Boxing Awards Night Banquet of Champions on March 25 at the grandballroom of the Elorde Sports Center in Sucat Road, Parañaque.

In a fax message to Johnny Elorde, the son of Da Flash, who is overseeing this great event together with wife, Liza, Ramos confirmed his attendance during the awards where Manny Pacquiao will be honored as Best Boxer of the Year for six consecutive years now.

Ramos in his message to the Elorde Foundation mentioned that "he is delighted to participate in this year’s Banquet of Champions and join boxing aficionados in honoring the country’s top Filipino boxers whose exploits in the international scene have made our country and people proud."

The awards organizing committee also announced that Parañaque City headed by Mayor Florencio Bernabe has declared a "Boxing Week" to fully commemorate the 72nd birthday of Flash Elorde on March 25.

To open the celebration a fun run for a cause dubbed "Box and Run" which will have our champion boxers, awardees and guest participating in 5 and 2.5 kilometer run will be held on March 18 to be followed by several boxing clinics and a big Dinner Boxing event on March 23 at the Elorde Sports Center featuring a double championship fight.

Other awards aside from the 15 national champions and 21 international titlists are Sammy Gello-Ani – best promoter, Antonio Aldeguer – best manager, Silvestre Abainza – best referee, Ferdinand Estrella – best judge, Edito "Ala" Villamor – best trainer, Eden Sonsona – most promising boxer and VinVin Rufino versus Jeffrey Onate for the RP featherweight championship – as best fight.

The honor rolls will have former Oriental champions William Develos and Raffy Montalban. Special awards will be given to Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe, Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) president Frank Quill, WBO vice president for Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo, international boxing journalist Jason Aniel, international referee Bruce Mctavish, boxing manager and sports writer Hermie Rivera. Citations will also be given to the Games and Amusement Board headed by chairman Eric Buhain and commissioner Angel Bautista and Alex Paglomotan, Springboard Foundation president Annete Helbig, Philippine Sportswriters Association, Solar Sports TV, and Rotary Club of Parañaque Sucat.

For more information on the celebration of the boxing week please call 8264463 or 8259385.