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Unlicensed pug fighting in Japan?
Published: December 17, 2006 by The Bohol Standard

IN WHAT may well turn out to be a monumental scandal, a former drug addict and ex-convict William Magahin, who spent two years in a Quezon City jail, is scheduled to battle undefeated American Charles Bellamy on Jan. 13 in Tokyo, according to Games and Amusements Board commissioner Alex Paglumotan.

Paglumotan, in an article on the Philboxing.com Web site, said he had a lengthy talk with Magahin and claimed he was in good shape and was now ready at any given time.

But Magahin’s listed manager Sammy Gello-ani, took exception to the claim and made it clear he had nothing to do with the planned fight in Japan, reportedly under the Masuo Matsuoka Promotions.

Gello-ani said Magahin’s foster father Roland spoke to him two weeks ago and requested him to activate his adopted son, who is 36 years old. But Gello-ani told him he had to first start training after getting the required medical clearance from the GAB before anything else.

The chief of the GAB boxing division Dr. Nasser Cruz, who was in Cagayan de Oro for a fight card, told Viva Sports that there was “no request for a medical exam for Magahin and no application for a license.”

Cruz said he would take up the issue with Paglumotan upon his return by Monday.

Gello-ani also expressed surprise about the report because under the rules imposed by the Japan Boxing Commission, only Filipino boxers rated in the top 10 are allowed to fight in Japan. And since Magahin has been inactive for 10 years and hasn’t even been given a license by the GAB, there was no way he could fight.

“I am really surprised,” said the well-known promoter.

Magahin’s last fight was on Jan. 20, 1996 when he lost the World Boxing Federation welterweight title by a 10th-round TKO to Jaime Lerma at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in a fight, where he turned his back on Lerma and gave up, much to the frustration of fight fans, who included President Fidel Ramos.

Magahin later admitted he was a drug user.

Paglumotan claimed that he and GAB Chairman Eric Buhain will have a role to play in the case, stating that they had done “everything to ensure not only the safety and protection of our Filipino boxers to be sent to Japan, through this agency.”

Last May, Paglumotan was also instrumental in having the GAB set aside P10,000 in assistance to the penniless fighter who, like him, is also from Iloilo.

Paglumotan’s statement about protection of Filipino boxers was scoffed at by boxing people, who claimed his actions with regard to Magahin, was a clear violation of existing rules and regulations and showed that the commissioner knew nothing about boxing.

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