RULES VIOLATED IN TEPURA-KAMEDA FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 11 May 2007
The Japan Boxing Commission as well as the Games and Amusements Board have apparently agreed to violate the standing rule of the JBC that only Filipino boxers ranked in the top ten can fight in Japan.
The violation involved super flyweight Pingping Tepura whose manager is listed as Rex ”Wakee” Salud who was rated No. 12 by the GAB but was cleared to fight undefeated Japanese star Daiki Kameda who had a record of 8-0 with 6 knockouts on April 30 in Shizuoka, Japan. In an obvious mismatch Tepura was knocked out at 2:21 of the second round.
Tepura suffered a brutal first round KO at the hands of Bert Batawang on January 21 in Cebu City in a fight telecast by Viva Sports on its top-rated weekly boxing show “The Main Event” but GAB boxing division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz claimed that “since the JBC approved this fight and when the request came here with all the contracts it was the Japanese side that was asking for the letter of authority. Dr.Cruz added “ since he (Tepura) was No. 12 maybe they reconsidered.” At the same time Dr. Cruz conceded that “the JBC is very strict in the requirements for any Filipino boxer to fight” in Japan.
Although the records on the website boxrec.com which concedes that it is not always accurate indicated that Tepura did not fight after his KO by Batawang and had won only one of his last five fights, Dr. Cruz said Tempura had qualified under the GAB’s rules of requiring two wins in the last five fights by winning a bout after the Batawang fight.
However, a check with both the GAB regional offices in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro revealed that Tepura had not fought in areas under their jurisdiction but may have fought in regions covered by the GAB office in Davao or Zamboanga which was recently came under fire for alleged anomalies including fake fight results.
Tepura’s 2006 record showed that on March 11 he lost by a second round KO to Trash Nakamura in Tokyo. He then won by a second round TKO over Eddie Villegas in Consolacion, Cebu but significantly Villegas had never won in his previous six fights, had a 0-6 record and lost all his fights by KO or TKO. Tepura lost a fifth round technical decision to Jonathan Ba-at on July 25 and then dropped a unanimous ten round decision to Junichi Ebisuoka on September 18 after which he was KO’s by Batawang and Kameda.
Salud himself admitted that Tepura was not in the top ten but claimed that the fight in Japan was negotiated by trainer Juanito Ablaca.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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