NIETES, DONAIRE TO ELORDE HALL OF FAME
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 26 Mar 2015
MANILA ? Against the backdrop of the 'Fight of the Century' involving Filipino eight division world champion Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao who will face undefeated pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr on May 2 in Las Vegas, the proud tradition of Philippine boxing marches on as the Philippines' longest reigning world champion Donnie 'Ahas' Nietes and Filipino future hall of famer Nonito 'The Filipino Flash' Donaire Jr were enshrined into the Elorde Hall of Fame during the 15th Gabriel 'Flash' Elorde Boxing Awards Banquet of Champions held at the Manila Hotel Wednesday night.
Nietes entered the hallowed hall of fame when he broke Flash Elorde's 48-year record as the Philippines'longest reigning world champion on Jan 1 this year and was named Elorde boxer of the year for seven consecutive years while Donaire was recognized for his body of work as a five division world champion. Nietes and Donaire will headline Pinoy Pride 30 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum this Saturday.
Named boxers of the year were General Santos City's Randy Petalcorin who won the WBA interim light flyweight title when he stopped Panama's Walter Tello in Shanghai on Aug. 26, 2014 and IBO light flyweight champion Rey Loreto who captured the belt by stopping South Africa's Nkosinathi Joyi in the 3rd round on Feb. 1, 2014.
Nietes (L) and Donaire pose with their gigantic Elorde Hall of Fame trophies.
Sen. Pimentel is the event's guest of honor.
Liza Elorde and Ted Lerner host the event.
Filipino boxing great Gabriel Flash Elorde, who died in 1985 at age 50, was enshrined into the boxing hall of fame in 1993 and considered one of the greatest junior lightweight champion in history, has been one of the most well-loved sports hero in the country and in the boxing community who inspired generations of Filipino boxers through the years. His legacy has been continued by his wife, now the Elorde matriarch Laura, and sons headed by Johnny and Bebot (Gabriel Jr) through the yearly Elorde Boxing Awards Banquest of Champions. Elorde's two grandsons, Juan Martin Elorde (16-1-1, 7KO) and Juan Miguel Elorde (17-1-0, 9KO) keep the Elorde name inside the ring. The brothers won their matches Wednesday night with Juan Martin retaining his WBO Asia Pacific super featherweight title by defeating Hirotsugu Yamamoto of Japan in a 12-roundd unanimous decision and Juan Miguel captured the vacant WBO Asia Pacific super bantam title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Thailand's Tabthong Tor Buamas.
Special guest of honor during Wednesday's ceremony was Philippine senator Aquilo 'Koko' Pimentel III who have shown great support for the sport of boxing. Pimentel has filed bills in the Senate providing special privileges to Filipino boxing champions, past and present, and in the creation of a Philippine Boxing Commission that will oversee that welfare of boxing in the Philippines as a whole.
This year's top honorees were ALA Promotions' Michael Aldeguer as best promoter, Atty Danrex Tapdasan as best referee, Silvestre Abainza as best judge and Edmund Villamor as best trainer. A special award has been given to Hitoshi Misako of Japan who was the first Japanese boxer who fought in the Philippines right after the war. Citations were also given to WBO Vice-President Leon Panoncillo Jr, Naris Singwancha and Philboxing.com for their contribution to Philippine boxing.
The event was ably hosted, as in the past years, by Liza Elorde and Ted Lerner.
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