Cab driver returns Cuello's WBC belt

MANILA, Philippines - The next time boxer Denver Cuello boards a cab he should wear his WBC belt around his waist.

That way, the 25-year-old world title contender won’t lose the precious belt the way he lost it Monday evening when he left it inside the cab that took him to Pasig.

Fortunately, the cab driver, identified as Pepito Sumalinog, returned the belt yesterday morning, saying that when he found it he didn’t know who the owner was.

“Gusto ko ibalik pero hindi ko alam kung kanino. Nadinig ko lang sa news na kay Cuello pala (I wanted to return it but didn’t know to whom until I heard in the news it was Cuello’s),” said the driver.

Cuello, still fresh from a unanimous decision over Ivan Meneses in Mexico last Sept. 29, said he had come from a TV interview when he boarded the cab.

The promising boxer said he was so sleepy that when he got off the cab, he and his companion realized that the bag containing the belt had been left behind.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon na may isang katulad niya na taxi driver (I thank the Lord there’s a cab driver like him),” said Cuello.

Sumalinog could have kept the WBC Silver minimumweight belt if he wanted to but chose to return it.

The boxer was not around when the cab driver brought the belt to dzBB radio station which had pleaded on air that whoever found should return it to its owner.

Cuello, according to a report by ABS-CBN, was planning to give the honest cab driver a reward for returning the belt which shouldn’t cost P2 million as reported.

To him, it’s priceless, of course.