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Flash
Elorde
Boxing
Cebu is well-known not
only for its politicians, businessmen, and artists, but also for its
athletes.
In sports, Cebu’s pride
is Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, regarded by many as the “the greatest
Filipino boxer.” Born to a farming couple in the northern town of Bogo,
the youngest of 16 children, Lord’s family was so poor that he and his
siblings were “distributed” and raised by various relatives. Called
Bay (the familiar Cebuano expression for a male friend), Elorde worked
as a houseboy for a relative. At the age of ten and without any
schooling, Elorde left Bogo for Cebu City. In the city, he worked as a
bootblack, construction peon, pier hand, and pinboy in a bowling alley.
He started fighting in
the ring at the age of 15 and came to be known not only for his
lightning jabs and fast legs but his courage and determination. A
sportswriter wrote that, during a fight, with “his legs almost shot
from under him, his face a rucksack of welts, cuts, and bruises, his
eyes mere slits,” Elorde would pull that courage “from some inner,
invisible scabbard, and turn the tide.”
In his career, Elorde
fought 107 bouts, winning 79, including 8 by knockout. He became world
champion in the junior lightweight division when he knocked out American
boxer Harold Gomes on 16 March 1960. He held the title for seven years.
In 1974, the World Boxing Council honored him as “the greatest world
junior light-weight boxing champion in WBC history.”
A warm-hearted and
generous person, he was active in charitable work, donating money for
constructing religious and school buildings. He also built a sports
complex in Paranaque to serve as a training center for aspiring boxers.
Flash Elorde died in 1985
at the age of 49. He set a record of achievements that inspired many
Cebuanos athletes after him.
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