GAB amends rules on six-rounders

DAVAO CITY -- The Games and Amusements Board (GAB) has amended the rule on six-rounders in view of the ring accident that happened to Filipino pro boxer Renerio Arizala in his fight with Tsuyoshi Tameda of Japan on March 31 in Yokohama, Japan.

Boxing chief Dioscoro Bautista said that GAB has reviewed the Rules and Regulations Governing Professional Boxing in the Philippines, particularly on six rounders’ authority to travel abroad.

Arizala, a Masbate featherweight boxer, underwent surgery in a Yokohama hospital where doctors bore a hole through his skull to drain a blood clot in the brain following a loss to Japanese Tsuyoshi Tameda by a sixth-round stoppage at the Osanbashi Hall.

In that fight, Arizala never went down but was visibly hurt from a brutal blow to the head with over a minute left in the six-round bout.

Bautista said: “Non-rated boxers ages 18 to 25 years old who have at least two wins in a six round bout and have fought not more than 10 fights maybe allowed to fight for six rounds in Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India, Dubai, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, London, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Ireland, South Korea, Vietnam, and United States of America."

"He has not lost by knockout or technical knockout in his last fight; he has fought in the last six months and has a favorable recommendation from the GAB boxing and other contact sports division,” Bautista added. (PNA)