Mon, 04 Feb 2008
The former commissioner of the Makati-based Games and Amusement Board (GAB) has extolled the Filipino judge who worked in the raucous “Now or Never” fight between local hero Z Gorres and Vic Darchinyan that ended in a controversial split draw after 12 rounds at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel last Saturday night.
“I believe Darchinyan really won,” lawyer Emmanuel “Nonong” Palabrica told Philboxing. “I congratulate that Filipino judge for being objective despite the pressure of the crowd.”
Palabrica was referring to Jonathan Davis who submitted a score of 114-112 in favor of the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion from Australia after 12 rounds.
Davis’ scorecard was contradicted by Thai judge Montol Suriyachand who saw Gorres the winner at 113-112. The third judge Cec Perkins had it 113-113.
“Now, we have shown a Filipino value that the boxing world ought to emulate,” added Palabrica, who had served in the legal panel of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the Pan-Asian Boxing Association (PABA) during the GAB chairmanship of fellow Ilonggo Eduardo Villanueva some three years ago.
Palabrica had no comment for controversial referee Lance Revill of New Zealand who earned promoter Gary Shaw’s wrath for his alleged lousy officiating.
Davis, a Cebuano, began working in a professional boxing fight in August 21, 2004 when he acted as one of the three judges in the 10-round non-title duel between Roselito Campana and Jun Pader at the Ermita Gymnasium, Ermita Beach, Cebu.
He has been assigned in mostly World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia-Pacific championship fights and once traveled to Korea on Sept. 16, 2007 for the WBO intercontinental flyweight tussle between Yo Sam Choi and Terdkiat Jandaeng and to Osaka, Japan on November 22, 2005 as judge in the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight title bout between Noriyuki Komatsu and Federico Catubay, a one-time Darchinyan KO victim.
Komatsu beat Catubay by split decision with Davis scoring for the Filipino while Korean judge Jae Tae Kim and Japanese judge Ichiro Uenaka saw Komatsu the winner.
