PH Boxing in 2024 Much Better Than 2023; Looking Up To More Opportunities in 2025
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 20 Dec 2024
Jerusalem (L) and Taduran preserve world titles for the Philippines in 2024.
The Philippines will end the year with two world boxing champions and a handful of top ranking contenders ready to pounce on world title opportunities that may come their way next year.
Philippine boxing hit rock bottom in 2023 with the year ending without a single world champion.
The year 2023 saw our remaining world boxing titlists from the previous year getting defrocked namely erstwhile long reigning IBF super flyweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas and unified WBA-IBF super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales respectively by Argentine strongman Fernando Martinez and Japanese Monster Naoya Inoue. Melvin Jerusalem won the WBO minimumweight title but got to hold it only for a few months before ceding it to Puerto Rican wunderkind Oscar Collazo.
2023 also saw Filipino world title challengers falling on the waysides in their bids among them former WBC featherweight titlist Mark Magsayo to American Brandon Figueroa, Bantamweights Nonito Donaire to Mexican Santiago Barrios and Vincent Astrolabio to Aussie Jason Moloney, super flyweight Jerwin Ancajas to Martinez in title rematch and light flyweight Regie Suganob to South African Sivenathi Nontsingha. Mostly in eyebrow raising manner.
Producing another world champion did not come easy and immediately this year. We had to endure a series of frustrations with Dave Apolinario falling to Mexican Angel Ayala for the vacant IBF flyweight title and the duo of Ancajas and Astrolabio suffering body shot knockouts to Japanese Takuma Inoue and Junto Nakatani in title fights at bantamweight.
Late sub Jake Amparo also suffered an early round submission in his world title challenge of Ginjiro Shigeoka in the companion main event before Melvin Jerusalem gave Filipinos a cause of celebration by decking his brother, Yudai Shigeoka twice on the way to securing a second tenure as world minimumweight champion this time with WBC via hard fought split decision.
A few months later, former IBF titlist Pedro Taduran made it a double celebration by deposing Ginjiro Shigeoka via brutal technical knockout in the Japanese home turf.
Gifted with not one but two world championships, both at boxing's littlest weight class, still we felt uneasy. This was owing to our long list of first title defense losses especially abroad in the recent past which had also involved both Jerusalem and Taduran.
Luckily, Manny Pacquiao through his MP Promotion saw the advantage of holding Jerusalem's title defense here especially with a tough Mexican Luis Castillo as his mandatory challenger. To cut the story short, Jerusalem broke the jinx of first title defense miseries by beating Castillo via unanimous decision in the main event of Pacquiao's Blow by Blow TV boxing show.
As for Taduran, his initial title defense was supposedly to be held in November in South Korea against his top ranking Chinese challenger. But it did not push through for lack of sponsorship. At least, we kept the title.
So after the long wait and some periods of uneasiness, we have two world titles and two world champions intact as we toast and bid adieu to 2024 and usher in the new boxing year.
What can we look forward to in 2025?
For starters, we can expect juicy title defense or even unification fights for either or both Jerusalem and Taduran with now unified minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo and one or both of the Shigeoka brothers, expected to make their respective bids.
A remote possibility could even be an all Pinoy unification fight between Jerusalem and Taduran if the prospective opponents vacillate with their plans.
This early, Pacquiao has expressed desire to put up a world class boxing extravaganza in September featuring world class Filipino fighters for the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Thrilla in Manila between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Should any or both of Jerusalem and Taduran still remain world titlists by that time, they are most likely to be among the boxers to be featured. It is therefore necessary to preserve one or both to be among those to represent world class Philippine boxing for such a grand project.
Boxing Hall of Fame bound Pacquiao himself is bidding for a world title crack at welterweight against WBC titlist Mario Barrios or a lucrative high profile bout against Gervonta Tank Davis who once halted Barrios.
Multi division champion Nonito Donaire has recently made another strong bid to be rated among the top five contenders at bantamweight in the WBA ranking so that he could vie for the world championship against new titlist Seiya Tsusumi. He might get his wish seeing how his reputation has preceded him time and again. Hopefully, Nonito is like wine that gets better with age.
Meanwhile, two Filipino super featherweight fighters namely Charly Suarez and Mark Magsayo are in possible position to vie for any of the world titles at 130 lbs.
Governor Luis Chavit Singson has been reportedly interested to support Suarez bid for a world title fight to be held in the country as soon as any of the major boxing bodies approve of and sanction such fight.
At least three Filipinos at light flyweight are rated highly in the world ranking as of November 2024. They include Christian Araneta who is mandatory for the IBF crown now held by a Japanese. Arvin John Paciones is top two contender for the vacant WBA title while Regie Suganob is number one contender at WBO. Then there is the hard punching Jayson Vayson who is rated among top five and could be tapped as world title challenger given the breaks
There are plans for Naoya Inoue to move up to featherweight and leave his myriad belts at super bantamweight. Should that happen, Marlon Tapales and Carl Jammes Martin hopefully should still be in the position to vie for any of the vacancies.
These concededly are mostly wishful musings but we can always hope for the best and the most ideal to happen.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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