FORMER WBF CHAMP MAGAHIN HELPS PACQUIAO DISTRIBUTE GOODS TO ILOILO TYPHOON VICTIMS
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 18 Jul 2008
LOS ANGELES, California ? Former World Boxing Foundation (WBF) welterweight champion William Magahin, a native of Iloilo City, Philippines, arrived at the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo City and volunteered to help World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao distribute the goods for typhoon victims on Thursday (July 17) morning.
Magahin, 37, was accompanied by another Ilonggo former boxer Bimboy Ruego.
?They had planned to see the world champion because they could not see him in Manila as Pacquiao was always busy,? said former amateur boxer Ronald P. Cuambot. ?It?s good that Pacquiao made true his promise to visit Iloilo help the typhoon victims.?
Cuambot said ?it appears that Pacquiao and Magahin know each other. They have probably met in the early 90?s when Magahin was still on top of the world and Pacquiao a virtual unknown.?
Magahin (17-8, 11 KOs) had hinted to his foster father Roland that he was still interested to make a comeback after he was released from Quezon city jail four years ago.
The elder Magahin had arranged for his son?s possible return to action after an 11-year hiatus with former Games and Amusement Board (GAB) commissioner Alex Paglumotan last year, but the planned fizzled out after it was learned that the black mestizo former fighter had no medical records required for a license.
The father had lobbied for his adopted son?s license to fight again saying the former boxer had already promised to abandon his old habits and focus his attention as a prizefighter ?for his own good.?
Paglumotan, now a councilor of Bacolod City, had promised to book Magahin in Japan for a non-title fight in 2006 but was rebuked by the Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC) which is very strict in requiring foreign boxers to obtain medical records before they are allowed to fight in Japan.
Magahin was hoping that Pacquiao would help him get a chance to prove his mettle once again.
He hasn?t fought since losing his WBF crown to Mexican-American Jaime Lerma on January 20, 1996 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Magahin, who, at 14, represented the Philippines in the World Youth amateur boxing festival in Havana, Cuba, reportedly briefly talked to Pacquiao after the distribution of goods supervised by Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo. Pacquiao then instructed his agent Michael Koncz to give something to the former boxer known in the early 90?s as ?The Black Mamba.?
?Manny told Koncz that Magahin was a good boxer during his time,? said a journalist who was present. ?It was not immediately clear if Pacquiao agreed to help Magahin fight again.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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