McTavish a proud Filipino
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 20 Jul 2025
Bruce McTavish.
Being Filipino is never about how you look. It’s what’s in your heart that counts. Bruce McTavish looked every bit the New Zealander of Scottish descent that he was but from when he started living in the Philippines in 1967, he knew where his home and heart were. McTavish was married to a Filipina, Carmen Tayag, for nearly 50 years and in 2010, Rep. Carmelo Lazatin filed House Bill No. 1445 endorsing his application for citizenship by naturalization through legislation. He waited eight years for his naturalization which came with assistance from Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Rep. Yeng Guiao. While waiting for his papers to clear, McTavish once joked if he were 6-10 and played high-level basketball, naturalization would’ve come much sooner.
McTavish actually played basketball and was on a New Zealand team that toured the Philippines in 1959 when he was 19. He returned to the country eight years later to become Chrysler national manager in the military sales division at Clark Air Base in Angeles City. McTavish, who was an amateur boxer before earning an economics degree at Auckland University, was reintroduced to the sport in Pampanga where local fighters dreamed dreams of becoming the next Flash Elorde. Initially, McTavish trained fighters and eventually, began an illustrious career as a referee. Elorde’s father-in-law Papa Sarreal gave McTavish his big break when as a promoter, chose him to work an Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation title fight in Manila in the early 1970s.
Back in the day, McTavish went through a rough patch. Once, in Angeles City, he stopped a fight in the fourth round and the loser’s cornerman put a .45 caliber gun to his head, furious after blowing a big bet. Luckily, no shot was fired. On another occasion, a fighter threw a haymaker at his opponent, missed and struck McTavish instead. McTavish wound up with several fractured ribs.
McTavish went on to log over 150 world title bouts and was named WBC Referee of the Year thrice. For more than 14 years, he was the main lecturer in referee seminars at the WBC Convention. His assignments as referee and judge took him all over the world, including Siberia and the Klong Perm Central Prison for Women in Bangkok. McTavish’s experiences are chronicled in the book “Third Man in the Ring” by Mike Fitzgerald and Patrick Morley.
McTavish was the referee in six Manny Pacquiao fights, including his last in the Philippines against Oscar Larios at the Big Dome in 2006. “I’ll never forget Manny was like my son when my buddy from Angeles City, Rick Staheli, was his trainer for the WBC flyweight title fight against Chatchai Sasakul in 1998,” said McTavish. “Then, as a senator, Manny helped push the paperwork for my naturalization and became my older brother.”
Whether in boxing or in Rotary conventions, McTavish made it a point to be recognized as a Filipino. “My Rotary Club of Mabalacat was cited during an international convention in Sydney for launching the world’s first Polio Plus project in 1983,” he said. McTavish was known for his philanthropy and social projects to look after streetchildren, the underprivileged and orphans. He was a director of the Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce, former president of St. James Cursillo and former president of the Rotary Clubs of Mabalacat and Clark Centennial.
Last Wednesday, McTavish passed away in Angeles City at 84. The last time I saw him was at the Elorde Awards Night in Okada last March. He was in a wheelchair with his wife Meng, their two daughters Jean and Michelle and son-in-law Michael Mandap to receive the Ring Excellence Award. I’ll never forget it was McTavish who sought out Dennis Rodman’s father Philander in Angeles City and arranged an interview with me in 1989. We shared many memories together, had long phone conversations and celebrated our birthdays which were only two days apart. McTavish deserves to be inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a Filipino referee/judge to share the honor with Sarreal, Elorde, Pacquiao and Pancho Villa. He was a proud Filipino who lived a full life and left behind an inspiring legacy of greatness.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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