FLORIDA-BASED BOXING BODY IBO ENTERS PHILIPPINE BOXING SCENE
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 02 Feb 2014
The shocking victory of Filipino journeyman Rey Loreto over the fancied South African former world champion Nkosinathi Joyi in the Kingdom of Monaco last night has further strengthened the presence of the Florida-based boxing sanctioning body, the International Boxing Organization (IBO).
While largely ignored and considered as a second class boxing organization compared to such established bodies as the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO, the IBO?s computerized ranking system is largely credited for giving unknown fighters without ?connections? in the boxing community a chance to fight for the world title.
The computerized ranking is based on the wins scored by a boxer against world ranked opponents. The IBO allows boxers ranked within the Top 35 to fight for the world championship unlike in other boxing organizations where only those ranked in the Top 10 could fight for the title.
Loreto?s third round knockout victory over the former world miniflyweight champion Joyi in the undercard of the Golovkin-Adama championship bout last night made him the third Filipino to win an IBO world boxing title.
Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao won an IBO title when he knocked out British fighter Ricky Hatton in their jr. welterweight encounter. This was followed by North Cotabato?s Edrin ?The Sting? Dapudong who knocked out South African Gideon Buthelezi in the first round in Johannesburg June last year to win the IBO World Jr. Bantamweight crown.
American Edward Levine is the president of the IBO which includes as its champions Vitalie Klitchko of Ukraine and Gennady Golovkin, one of the hottest names in boxing today.
With Loreto?s recent success in winning an IBO title, it is expected that the newest boxing sanctioning body will gain a foothold in the Philippines, a country where boxing is the number 1 sport and where people drop everything they are doing, rebels and soldiers stop fighting, and even the President sits down to watch the fights of its boxing heroes.
In March this year, the first IBO world title fight is set to be held in the Philippines when North Cotabato?s Edrin Dapudong defends his world title first time against Ricardo Nunez of Panama.
Other upcoming Filipino fighters also have a chance to fight for IBO world titles, thanks to Manny Pacquiao, Edrin Dapudong and now, Rey Loreto.
Top photo: Rey Loreto (R) poses with trainer Joven Jorda after capturing the IBO title in Monaco.
IBO's first two Filipino world champions Manny Pacquiao and Edrin Dapudong are shown in left photo while the newest IBO world champion Rey Loreto is shown with his trainer right.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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