Inside the Sisnorio mismatch

The tragic death of 24-year-old former WBC Youth flyweight champion Lito Sisnorio is another example of unscrupulous individuals in the Philippines and Thailand who connive in sending Filipino boxers to Thailand to often get massacred in terrible mismatches with death the occasional grim result. Before we received the report of Sisnorio's death we had posted a story on BoxingScene.com, pointing out the glaring mismatch. How could anyone in his right mind match Sisnorio who had lost five of his 11 fights including his last fight by a seventh-round TKO against reigning WBC flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wongongkam against the hard-hitting Sasakul who had a record of 38 knockouts in 59 wins as against only three losses. In fact, we covered Sasakul's title defense against Manny Pacquiao in December 1998 in which Sasakul mauled Pacquiao for six rounds before the devastating puncher from General Santos City caught him with a vicious combination in the eighth round to win the title by a spectacular KO. The Games and Amusements Board cannot escape its share of responsibility for Sisnorio's untimely death by claiming he had no clearance to fight and that he had probably sneaked out of the country. We refuse to accept such a lame excuse because we ourselves have time and again protested strongly against these mismatches and suggested that the GAB secure the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Justice Department and the Bureau of Immigration in its effort to stop scoundrels preying on poor fighters. We have also complained as indeed some decent men in boxing have, about the rampant switching of identities of fighters who move from one Thai town to another using fictitious names. If anything substantial has been done, we certainly haven't noticed their effect. In fact, one of the scoundrels involved with the notorious Bong Obero in many a sneaky deal is Panya Prachakorn who some years back incurred the ire of the Japan Boxing Commission when he sent a fighter with a fake identity to fight for an OPBF title. We believe that all the GAB under chairman Eric Buhain has to do is to tell the Immigration Bureau not to allow any boxer to leave for a fight abroad without the proper clearance or certification from the GAB. It could easily be done because when boxers apply for a passport they indicate their profession as professional boxers. Since Buhain's father-in-law, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, is a powerful individual in President Arroyo's administration and the GAB is under the Office of the President, Ermita can certainly make things happen. That should include asking the Thai authorities to crack down on promoters and matchmakers who ply what amounts to an illegal trade. Far more easily Buhain could seek Ermita's help in rounding up the blood-sucking Filipino middlemen who send our fighters to their death for measly sums. Some, like Sisnorio, die after a fight while many others are so badly beaten that their lives are invariably cut short. To us, the death of Sisnorio is a crime for which someone must pay. And we don't want to hear about an investigation being conducted — which always happens after incidents such as this — with nobody charged and sent to prison. Because the life of another young man who sought to earn a living in the ring so he and his family could enjoy a better life has been cruelly cut short by unscrupulous individuals. For years the GAB has known about the violations committed by Obero for one. But despite being banned, he has been able to visit the GAB office according to Buhain himself. What influence does he wield and who, if any among GAB officials have connived with him and other vermin like him? Its up to Buhain to find out and act decisively. Perhaps a ban on Filipino boxers fighting in Thailand should be imposed until this whole stinking mess is cleaned up. After all, the government imposed a ban on workers sneaking into Iraq to earn a living for fear they would die. Much of the time our boxers who go to Thailand and figure in glaring mismatches die a little but on occasions, like in the case of Lito Sisnorio, die.Period. What a criminal waste of a good young life.

Crazy to think that anybody would allow such a mismatch to occur, I guess that's what money, or the prospect of money, does to people. This article failed to mention that Sisnorio died during surgery that was required because of the brain damage suffered during the match, if that makes any difference.