WHY ARE LOCAL FIGHTS NOT SHOWN LIVE ON FREE TV IN THE PHILIPPINES?
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 14 Feb 2017
For almost two decades Manny Pacquiao?s unprecedented run of eight division world titles reignited the sport of boxing here in the Philippines. Filipinos have always been boxing fans since the time of Francisco Guilledo a.k.a. Pancho Villa but Pacquiao?s crossover success generated the Golden Age of Philippine Boxing.
Every now and then someone would ask me who will take over Pacquiao?s mantle or ask for the names of local prospects who I think will make it big. Most of the time, when I mention the up and coming boxers that I?ve seen, I get a blank stare.
Why? Because most of the local prospects have never been seen on Philippine television.
Basketball is shown live on free television. That is a no-brainer since the Philippines is first and foremost a basketball crazy country. We used to see televised billiards during the Efren ?Bata? Reyes era. Most of the games of our national football team ? the Azkals ? are also televised live, as well as women?s volleyball and college basketball.
Nothing wrong with that. But during recent chats with Pinoy boxing pundits about the ?state of Philippine boxing?, there was a feeling of uncertainty.
One of my regular companions during my stints as a ring physician overseas is International Referee Atty.Danrex Tapdasan. He pointed out to me the glaring lack of local fights being shown live on television. I actually had to think long and hard when he asked me when was the last time I saw a local boxing show live on free television in our country.
There was a time when local fights, even when it was not a live event, was seen every week in boxing programs like ?In This Corner? and ?Blow by Blow?. The latter has since made a comeback but fans still do not get to see the program every week.
ALA Promotions did a good job creating a paying audience here in Cebu City. But their fight cards are still not shown live most of the time. They are shown twelve hours later, usually on Sunday mornings. And most of the time, the two or three main bouts are the ones that get airtime.
Other TV stations show local fights but not on a weekly basis and usually a few weeks after the fight was taped. A little more regularity could make the viewers remember the time slot.
But for the past decade, other boxing stables in the Philippines have gotten less exposure on TV. We have two world champions right now, Jerwin Ancajas and Marlon Tapales, whose fights we can only watch online. What about the Filipino fight fans who don?t have access to the internet or are not aware where their videos are found.
Not a lot of people knew the names Tapales and Ancajas before and after they won world titles simply because most of their fights were never shown on free television.
Another example was when Johnriel Casimero dethroned Thai Amnat Ruenroeng in Beijing. The fight was aired live in China, both online and on television. But the fight was not shown live here in the Philippines.
During the 1990?s, we would even see amateur boxing weekly on TV courtesy of ?Go for Gold?.
It is not just TV exposure that our boxers require, they also desperately need an upgrade in fight purses. Many of them consent to be fed to the lions overseas simply because they have families to support.
I used to a be ring physician for local fights held in places like Siquijor, Siaton, Tagbilaran and Dumaguete. Every time I see a great fight, I always feel sorry for the millions of boxing fans in the Philippines who will never get to enjoy what I saw, because there were no TV cameras around.
It is quite lamentable that this downslide happened during the time when we witnessed the reign of Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire, and Donnie Nietes.
I have seen for myself the rise of professional boxing in China which started five years ago in the big money fights held in Macao. Professional boxing is also gaining popularity in non-traditional locations like India and the UAE.
Boxing officials who travel with me know that Filipino boxers are of a much higher quality. But at the end of the day, the countries that I mentioned can get a lot of money through sponsors, something that the Philippines is always lacking.
The bottom line is professional boxing is a business and it would be tragic if we look back at our ?Golden Age? and say - we could have done so much more.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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