GAB NEEDS TO EXPLAIN JAPAN MISMATCH
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 08 Jun 2007
The Games and Amusements Board needs to explain how it approved a fight between Gilbert De La Torre who was ranked No. 6 straw weight in the April 2007 ratings and Japan’s undefeated light flyweight Shigetaka Ikehara last Tuesday.
Under the amended rules of the Japan Boxing Commission which were confirmed in an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today by JBC executive secretary Tsuyoshi Yasukochi recently, only Filipino boxers rated in the top twelve were allowed to fight in Japan. In the past it was only the top ten who were allowed to fight in Japan.
Yasukochi said the eight round bout between De La Torre and Ikehara was allowed because it was approved by the Philippine Games and Amusements Board. However, it turned out that while De La Torre was ranked in the 105 pound straw weight division he was not rated in the 108 light flyweight division when he fought Ikehara.
De La Torre who had a record of 7-5-1 with 1 knockout entered the ring at the famous Korakuen Hall against Ikehara who had a record of 13-0-1 with 10 knockouts in a fight that Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today had branded a mismatch last May 22 and informed the GAB boxing division which paid no attention to the complaint and allowed the fight to go ahead. The result was De La Torre was knocked out at 1:45 of the second round in what was patently a mismatch despite GAB chairman Eric Buhain's announced plans to crack down on such anomalies.
In raising concern over the mismatch, it was noted that De La Torre had lost by a third round knockout in April last year to Thailand’s Saengpetch Sor Sakulpan and last December suffered a seventh round TKO to Japan’s Masaharu Naganawa.
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