Sports: GAB Chair Monju Guanzon: ‘Gov’t Support Needed to Develop Local Boxers’

Regions from the Visayas and Mindanao have been producing quality boxers and have successfully landed remarkable stints both in the local and international scenes.

In a press conference yesterday at Dodong’s Fast Break cafi of Bascon Hotel, Games and Amusement Board Chairman, Monju Guanzon told members of the media that there should be a program that will focus on a boxing program from the grassroots level.

Guanzon added that there are cities that got boxers from Bacolod City but since there is no support from the local government these boxers have been claimed by other towns and cities as their own. Guanzon was later asked about the boxing facility at the Paglaum Sports Complex and was able to recall that after his father, the late Congressman Romeo Guanzon, there have not been any substantial support for the Negros Amateur Boxing Association (NABA) and lauded the volunteerism of trainers and coaches who teach young kids at the said meager facility.

"There is a need for government to support local boxers and get financial support to run a facility for this sport," Guanzon said.

There is need for a certain City to develop local talents through a good sports program in connection with the growth and development of youth and sports. "Bacolod has no boxing team," Guanzon added. On the other hand, the local boxing stable is located in Barangay Mansilingan where the RGG Coliseum stands and is owned by the Guanzon family.

Bacolod remains to be a choice of ALA Promotions having to hold two successful events in the City and on May 4 "Pride of Negros" will be at the L’Fisher Hotel for another showcase of local talents in Boxing and a Title fight between Merlito Sabillo and Jonathan Refugio for the Philippine Boxing Federation Super-Fly Weight Division.*