ILOILO CITY – Like a
biblical prodigal son, former World Boxing Federation (now Foundation)
welterweight titlist William “The Black Mamba” Magahin, has reunited
with his estranged foster father, Roland, here and is now itching to
stage a comeback in the ring after a 10-year hiatus.
“This time, it’s for
real,” vowed Roland, 48, who admitted he has accepted back to his fold
his 35-year-old adopted son, once the toast of boxing community for
sending to retirement the famed ex-WBC superfeatherweight king Rolando
Navarette via six-round disposal in a non-title tiff at the Araneta
Coliseum in 1994.
“I would like to
confirm that William (Magahin) has returned (in Iloilo City) and he
will soon be back in the ring,” said Roland, who acted as the black
mestizo’s registered manager when the pugilist turned professional in
1989 with a first round demolition of Noel Togana in a four-round
aperitif in Mandaluyong City.
Criminal records
Roland said he
accepted back his felonious ward on condition that he would totally
discard his criminal activities and vices.
Magahin (18-6-1, 14
KOs), who never met his biological father – an American sailor
stationed in Olongapo City in the 60’s – is fresh from a nearly
three-year stint as inmate at the Quezon City jail for robbery-holdup.
He promised to “make
the best of my remaining youthful years” to win another world title
despite his admission last year that he used drugs even before being
annihilated in the 10th round by Mexican-American Jaime Lerma in a WBF
title defense which also served as his farewell fight in 1996 at the
Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Magahin admitted he
“sought refuge” to drugs after his wife, a bank employee in Manila,
junked him for another man. Their son is now in high school.
After quitting from
the ring, Magahin left Roland to live in the underworld. He and his
gang eked out a living by robbing taxis and doing other abhorrent
crimes that eventually brought him behind bars.
Visit from WBF chief
When WBF President
Mick Croucher and this writer visited him inside his detention cell
and offered to bail him out on
August 3, 2003, the 5 feet and 10 inches quarterfinalist in the 1984
World Junior Amateur Boxing Championship in
Havana, Cuba, broke in
tears.
An attempt to bail him
out for P14,000 (Croucher withdrew the cash from Equitable-PCI Bank
ATM machine in Ermita,
Manila) was foiled after
Manila promoter Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde, Jr. returned Croucher’s
money saying “he deserved to remain inside the jail for being a menace
in the society.”
The Games and
Amusement Board (GAB) chaired by Eric Buhain recently passed a
resolution awarding the penniless Ilonggo boxer P10,000 to be taken
from the agency’s welfare fund.
Recognition
GAB also awarded
Magahin with a plaque of recognition in absentia during the 1st GAB
Convention in Manila in April this year together with other Filipino
former world boxing champions.
The plaque will be
sent to Magahin’s residence in Bo. Obrero,
Iloilo City
now that he has been located, said GAB Commissioner Alex Paglumotan
during a recent visit in Iloilo City.
Aside from the WBF
diadem which Magahin grabbed from Jeff Malcolm on March 25, 1995 at
the Iloilo Sports Complex here, the black fighter also once held the
Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) 140-lbs crown.
In 1993, he traveled
to Tokyo and was bombed out in five rounds in a non-title duel by
Tokyo Santa otherwise known as Miguel Angel Gonzales, the future WBC
champion who terrorized the lightweight division vacated by the great
Julio Caesar Chavez.
“He is still in
excellent physical shape and I am confident he can still win a world
championship despite his age,” said Roland. “That’s his promise to
me.”
