OPBF Ratings Under Fire

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

The latest ratings of the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation which were released last Sunday by OPBF president Frank Quill has come under fire from respected Cebu boxing patron and manager of former world champions and top-rated fighters,Tony Aldeguer, and Viva Sports which produces the top-rating weekly boxing show “The Main Event” on Sundays over RPN 9.

Aldeguer and Viva Sports immediately emailed Quill expressing their dismay over the downgrading of former No. 1 super flyweight Z “The Dream” Gorres and WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion, undefeated  Rey  Bautista. Gorres was inexplicably dropped to No. 4 despite his impressive ten round victory over hard-hitting Thai Chaiyong Distar last December 11. Distar had a record of 12-2 with 12 KO’s. Bautista was downgraded from No. 4 to 5 after a successful title defense last October when he scored a first round KO over Indonesia’s Christian Casino.

Aldeguer asked Quill “how is it that three other contenders displaced Gorres” from the mandatory challengers slot when he had not lost a fight the whole of last year and had outpointed world rated  WBO No. 6 Sairung Suwanasil last September 4 prior to the win over Distar. The three are Korean Jungwoon Kim who was rated No. 1, Eric Barcelona who moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 and Prosper Matsuura of Japan “just appeared in the ratings as No. 3 when he was previously unranked.?”  Viva Sports pointed out to the OPBF president that Barcelona had lost his last two fights dropping a unanimous  10 round decision to Komrit Lukkuongmuekol last August 31 and   a 12 round decision to Silence Mabuza last November 20 and had previously lost to Gorres. Viva Sports noted that Kim was elevated to No. 1 on the strength of a win last October 5 over Han Nam Kim after three previous defeats, one of which was a split decision loss to Bautista.

Matsura, on the other hand moved to No. 3 based on a ten round decision over Roger Galicia last November 20 although he had lost his two previous fights, one by knockout. In the bantamweight ratings Aldeguer claimed that Bautista was downgraded “to accommodate a Japanese boxer” identified as Jun Toriumi who catapulted to No. 1 when he was unranked in the previous rating. In addition it was shown that Toriumi had been fighting over the bantamweight limit. The move was described as “an obvious effort” to get a Japanese boxer to challenge Indonesia’s Ringo Jaguar for the title vacated by Hozumi Hasegawa as though the Japanese had the sole right to decide who they  want to be the OPBF champion just because it was their boxer who vacated the title.

Both Aldeguer and Viva Sports told Quill that while they had “full trust and confidence in your integrity” they regretted they “couldn’t say the same for the members of the ratings committee whoever they may be.” Stressing his “great disappointment” because he sincerely believed that Gorres and Bautista “can beat the current champions in their respective divisions and all other challengers who are rated above them”. Aldeguer added “if given the chance, I am willing to challenge any of the champions and contenders.”