The history of boxing in the Philippines is the history of boxing and the evolution and progress of the sport in the Philippines. In the Philippines, boxing is considered a famous sport together with basketball, despite of the glories and honors it brought to the country, having produced Olympic standouts, professional world champions and some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. The Philippines has yet to win an Olympic gold medal but amateur boxing has given the country more medals in the Summer Olympics than any sport with 5 out of its 9 total medals. On the other hand, professional boxing have produced 38 major world champions (including those of Filipino heritage), one of the most in the world. Filipino greats like Pancho Villa, Flash Elorde and Ceferino Garcia are members of the two highly respected boxing hall of fames - International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) and World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF). Thus, giving the Philippines the most number of boxing hall of fame members out of Asia.
Today, Filipino professional boxers are one of the most respected for their aggressive styles and world class talents, with the likes of future hall of famers Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire in which are the prestigious Ring Magazine pound for pound top ten ranking best fighters in the world respectively.
Golden Ages of Philippine boxing
Before the Spaniards and Americans came to the Philippines, Filipinos have their own kind of boxing known as Suntukan, which means "bare-hand fighting" in Tagalog, generally believed to have evolved from a Filipino knife fighting technique called "Kali". During the Spanish colonization, such martial arts and kind of fighting were banned, so it was driven in the undergrounds where the deprivation of knives and rattan sticks lead to fist fighting.
First Golden Age of Philippine boxing
The evolution of Philippine boxing was thought to be after the Spanish-American war, where Spain ceded its colonial territories, namely Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States as agreed in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. Some reports told that American soldiers brought the modern boxing in the Philippines where evidences of a pair boxing gloves were made by Sol Levinson of San Francisco and another story telling that a renegade soldier brought some boxing gloves to Filipino prisoners and taught them how to use it. However, it was generally believed that three Americans were responsible for the evolution of boxing in the country namely: Frank Churchill and the Tait brothers (Eddie and Stewart).^ Eddie and Stewart Tait, also dubbed as "Barnums of Borneo", were amusement park entrepreneurs who established carnivals and horse racing tracks in Manila, who arrived in the country in 1902. Eddie, believed to be a boxing enthusiast, wanted to attract crowds by teaching Filipino locals some western boxing lessons for free to create American-style Filipino boxers. In 1921, boxing was legalized in the Philippines and began to flourish. Frank Churchill joined by the Tait brothers, established the Olympic Boxing Club in Manila. During this time, the country saw the first batch of great Filipino fighters such as Dencio Cabanela, Speedy Dado, the Flores brothers (Francisco, Elino, Macario and Ireneo), Pete Sarmiento, Sylvino Jamito, Macario Villon and the legendary Pancho Villa. The first golden age of Philippine boxing emerge as Pancho Villa won the Universal World Flyweight Championship from Welshman Jimmy Wilde to become the first ever Asian and Filipino world champion. Villa defended his title three times including a fight in the Philippines with fellow Filipino Clever Sencio where he won by fifteen-round decision, which at the time, nobody thought it would be the last victory of his young career. The glorious era was short-lived following the ring deaths of popular fighters Dencio Cabanela and Clever Sencio along with the death of Pancho Villa from Ludwig's angina and their influential promoter Frank Churchill.
There was also the Filipino-Spanish boxer, Luis Logan, who at one time or another held the title Oriental Welterweight and Heavyweight champion. Logan's boxing career spanned 1925-1940; and spent half his boxing career in Spain, Argentina, outside of the Philippines.
On October 2, 1939, a sudden uplift came when Ceferino Garcia won the NYSAC World Middleweight Championship from American Fred Apostoli at the Madison Square Garden, New York, United States. On December 23, 1939, Garcia successfully defended his title for the first time against American Glen Lee in front of his countrymen inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex which was the first world title bout ever recorded in the Philippine islands. Garcia also competed with some of the best boxers ever like Barney Ross and Henry Armstrong, to whom he denied his fourth title in four weight divisions through a draw. However, he then lost at the hands of Ken Overlin, unable to land his famous bolo punch and losing the title.
Second Golden Age of Philippine boxing
On July 20, 1955, Filipino boxing fans saw the birth of Philippine boxing's second golden era as a Cebuano boxer named Gabriel "Flash" Elorde beat the then reigning World Featherweight Champion and later Hall of Famer Sandy Saddler in a non-title bout at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Elorde went on to win the World Super Featherweight Championship from Harold Gomes by a seventh round knockout on March 16, 1960. Elorde kept his world title inside a division record of 7 years and 2 months with 10 successful defenses, including a one round knockout of Gomes in a rematch. Flash Elorde, during his time, was one the busiest fighters who traveled to fight very often. A great and fearless fighter, Elorde was one of the most beloved Filipino athletes since Pancho Villa. In this Elorde inspired period, twenty (20) world champions were created spanning from Roberto Cruz to Gerry Peñalosa along with the formation of the "Big Four of Professional Boxing" or the major sanctioning bodies, namely the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO. However, as time goes by, boxing was becoming less popular in the country because of many alternative sports including basketball until Manny Pacquiao came.
Third Golden Age of Philippine boxing (present)
A Filipino boxer named Manny Pacquiao, was an entertaining star in the local boxing television show called "Blow-by-Blow" by the famed Filipino manager and promoter Rod Nazario. Pacquiao's name was so accustomed to the viewers not only because of his aggressive style, but also of his unique looks and catchy surname. No one expects that Pacquiao will be the greatest Filipino fighter ever and one of the greatest the world have ever seen. This marks the beginning of the third greatest era of Philippine boxing and a new wave of Filipino boxers. On December 4, 1998, Pacquiao upset Thai Champion Chatchai Sasakul in Thailand to win the WBC Flyweight Championship (his first world title). On his title defense, Pacquiao lost his title on the scale and was knocked out in the fight by Medgoen Singsurat of Thailand. Pacquiao was unable to the make flyweight limit and move to super bantamweight division. Pacquiao, for the second time in his career, was the heavy underdog against South African Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, the reigning IBF Super Bantamweight Champion. On June 23, 2001, Pacquiao won his second world title in two different weight divisions. In 2003, Pacquiao's career rose to its peak as he stopped the then reigning The Ring Featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico via 11th round technical knockout. From then on, Pacquiao has acquired three lineal (The Ring) titles and four major (WBC & IBF) world titles along six different divisions- flyweight (112 lbs.), super bantamweight (122 lbs.), featherweight (126 lbs.), super featherweight (130 lbs.), lightweight (135 lbs.) and light welterweight (140 lbs.). On, November 14, 2009, Pacquiao surpassed Oscar De La Hoya's record of six-division titles by stopping WBO welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto to win his seventh title across seven divisions. One year later, he made history by being the first boxer ever to win eight world titles in eight weight divisions as he dominated Mexican slugger Antonio Margarito to won the vacant WBC Light Middleweight title. Since 2003, Pacquiao amassed a record of 16 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in his last 18 fights (his only loss came against Mexican Erik Morales, whom he defeated two-times all by knockouts in their trilogy). The Filipino fighter defeated some of the best oppositions available along the way to his superstardom including Mexicans Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Márquez and Antonio Margarito, British Ricky Hatton, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, and Americans Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley. The "Pacquiao Wave" regenerate boxing in the Philippines as the new generation of boxers begin to aspire higher, trying to emulate their idol Manny Pacquiao. Nonito Donaire Jr., one of the Pacquiao-wave fighters, became the third Asian to win three world titles in three weight divisions by defeating Mexican Fernando Montiel to claim the WBC and WBO Bantamweight Championships on February 19, 2011.
Filipino Boxing Champions Video
Philippines' contribution to boxing
The Philippines is one of the founding member nations of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF). Filipino boxers also contributed to the history of boxing from rules and techniques to records and achievements. Pancho Villa is not only the first Asian and Filipino world champion but is also described as one of the cleanest boxers before the proper rules were established. Ceferino Garcia is credited as the inventor of the "bolo punch". However, according to Tahoma News-Tribune, a fellow Filipino boxer named Macario Flores was reportedly using it.Gabriel "Flash" Elorde still holds the record for longest reign in the super featherweight or junior lightweight (130 lbs.) division - 7 years, 2 months and 29 days with 10 title defenses. While Donnie Nietes holds as the longest Filipino World Champion in the Light Flyweight division. On November 13, 2010, Manny Pacquiao entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first ever boxer to win eight world titles in 8 eight different divisions (see also Octuple Champion) by defeating Mexican Antonio Margarito via 12-round unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBC light middleweight champion
List of amateur boxing Olympic medalists
List of professional boxing world champions
LEGENDS:
Major World Champions [Major Sanctioning Bodies: WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO]
Interim World Champions [Interim Sanctioning Bodies: WBA (Interim), WBC (Silver) & WBO (Interim)]
Minor World Champions [Minor Sanctioning Bodies: NBA (defunct), WAA (defunct), IBC, WBF, IBO, WPBF and others]
HoF Hall of Famers [IBHOF (highly regarded) & WBHF (lightly regarded)]
U Undisputed World Champions [Universal (USA & Britain) or Now (Having held 3 of the 4 major titles in a single division)]
L Lineal World Champions [Sanctioning Body: The Ring Magazine (since 1922, ceased publication in 1990-2000s, continued in 2002)]
S Super World Champions [Sanctioning Bodies: WBA (Super), WBC (Emeritus) & WBO (Super)]
H Boxer of Filipino heritage [due to parent's nationality, residence or other circumstances]
C Current World Champions
|align=left bgcolor="#EDDA74"| Harmonito Dela Torre | WBF World Super Featherweight Champion (Minor) |Sept 13, 2014 |0 |Present
Incumbent |-align=center | |align=left bgcolor="#EDDA74"| Jack Asis | IBO World Super Featherweight Champion (Minor) |April 11, 2015 |0 |Present
Incumbent |-align=center |}
updated by Gozon j.
Current titleholders
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