‘Black Mamba' Released from Jail
EX-WORLD CHAMP MAGAHIN GEARS UP FOR COMEBACK AT 35
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 27 May 2006
ILOILO CITY -- Like a biblical prodigal son, former World Boxing Federation (now Foundation) welterweight titlist William “The Black Mamba” Magahin, has reunited with his estranged foster father, Roland, here and is now itching to stage a comeback in the ring after a 10-year hiatus.
“This time, it’s for real,” vowed Roland, 48, who admitted he has accepted back to his fold his 35-year-old adopted son, once the toast of boxing community for sending to retirement the famed ex-WBC superfeatherweight king Rolando Navarette via six-round disposal in a non-title tiff at the Araneta Coliseum in 1994.
“I would like to confirm that William (Magahin) has returned (in Iloilo City) and he will soon back in the ring,” said Roland, who acted as the black mestizo’s registered manager when the pugilist turned professional in 1989 with a first round demolition of Noel Togana in a four-round aperitif in Mandaluyong City.
CRIMINAL RECORDS
Roland said he accepted back his felonious ward on condition that he would totally discard his criminal activities and vices.
Magahin (18-6-1, 14 KOs), who never met his biological father--an American sailor stationed in Olongapo City in the 60’s--is fresh from a nearly three-year stint as inmate at the Quezon City jail for robbery-holdup.
He promised to “make the best of my remaining youthful years” to win another world title despite his admission last year that he used drugs even before being annihilated in the 10th canto by Mexican-American Jaime Lerma in a WBF title defense which also served as his farewell fight in 1996 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Magahin admitted he “sought refuge” to drugs after his wife, a bank employee in Manila, junked him for another man. Their son is now in high school.
After quitting from the ring, Magahin left Roland to live in the underworld. He and his gang eked out a living by robbing taxis and doing other abhorrent crimes that eventually brought him behind bars.
VISIT FROM WBF CHIEF
When WBF President Mick Croucher and this writer visited him inside his detention cell and offered to bail him out on August 3, 2003, the 5 feet and 10 inches quarterfinalist in the 1984 World Junior Amateur Boxing Championship in Havana, Cuba, broke in tears.
An attempt to bail him out for P14,000 (Croucher withdrew the cash from Equitable-PCI Bank ATM machine in Ermita, Manila) was foiled after Manila promoter Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde, Jr. returned Croucher’s money saying “he deserved to remain inside the jail for being a menace in the society.”
The Games and Amusement Board (GAB) chaired by Eric Buhain recently passed a resolution awarding the penniless Ilonggo boxer P10,000 to be taken from the agency’s welfare fund.
RECOGNITION
GAB also awarded Magahin with a plaque of recognition in absentia during the 1st GAB Convention in Manila in April this year together with other Filipino former world boxing champions.
The plaque will be sent to Magahin’s residence in Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City now that he has been located, said GAB Commissioner Alex Paglumotan during a recent visit in Iloilo City.
Aside from the WBF diadem which Magahin grabbed from Jeff Malcolm on March 25, 1995 at the Iloilo Sports Complex here, the black fighter also once held the Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) 140-lbs crown.
In 1993, he traveled to Tokyo and was bombed out in five rounds in a non-title duel by Tokyo Santa otherwise known as Miguel Angel Gonzales, the future WBC champion who terrorized the lightweight division vacated by the great Julio Caesar Chavez.
“He is still in excellent physical shape and I am confident he can still win a world championship despite his age,” said Roland. “That’s his promise to me.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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