LONG before Emmanuel (Manny) Pacquiao came into our national consciousness, there was Gabriel (Flash) Elorde, who many sports fans considered as the greatest boxer in Philippine sports history with his illustrious seven-year reign as the world champion in the super featherweight or junior lightweight division during the 1960s.
I am writing about Elorde because today, January 2, is his 33rd death anniversary. And he was my Filipino sports hero during my kiddie years.
Growing up, I religiously chronicled local and international sports events in basketball, soccer (long before it was called “football”) and boxing.
In fact, my brother and I were witnessed to some fights of Elorde at the Araneta Coliseum or the old Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, courtesy of free tickets from Elorde’s wife Laura, who was a close friend of my mom. Moreover, our family lives in the same neighborhood as Laura and the Sarreals along A. Mabini Street in Ermita, Manila.
If my memory serves me right, I was able to watch the last of Elorde’s five bouts against Teruo Kosaka at the Big Dome in June 1965 where the former pummeled the Japanese into submission with a knockout win in the final seconds of the 15th and final round to retain the world super featherweight titles of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC).
For good measure, I also was able to secure a copy of the souvenir program of the Elorde-Kosaka fight.
A southpaw like Pacquiao, Elorde made his pro debut in his hometown of Cebu in June 1951. He won his first nine assignments on provincial soil before he lost by KO to Kid Independence (what a moniker) in the final three minutes of their 10-round bout, also in Sugbu.
At 17-2-1 (win-loss-draw), Flash finally brought home his first international crown in October 1952 when he won a 12-round split decision over Hiroshi Horiguchi in Tokyo, Japan to annex the vacant Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight title.
While successfully defending his OPBF bantamweight diadem twice, he also lost twice in his attempt to capture the continental featherweight belt, including one against a local boxer (Larry Bataan) in Manila.
The 5-foot-6 Elorde first fought for a world championship in January 1956 at the Cow Palace in California, USA but Sandy Saddler avenged an earlier defeat via a 10-round unanimous decision to the former six months earlier at the RMSC in Manila with a 13th-round TKO stoppage to snare the title.
By then, Elorde was often campaigning overseas in Asia and elsewhere. He won (twice) and lost (once) the OPBF title in the lightweight division before making eight successful defenses of the title after regaining the crown.
Elorde’s fortunes made a turnaround when, at 53-17-2, he upset Harold Gomes with a seventh-round kayo win before a crowd of around 26,000 in the first-ever event held at the Araneta Coliseum on March 16, 1960 to snatch the world super featherweight title from Gomes, who was fighting outside the U.S. for the first time. The victory ended the Philippines’ 20-year world championship famine.
The proud Gomes, who to date is still alive and kicking at age 84, sought a rematch and paid dearly for his wish as Elorde scored a stunning first-round KO five months later at the Cow Palace in California in his first title defense.
Elorde defended the WBC, WBA and Lineal super featherweight crowns a total of 10 times until he dropped a 15-round majority decision to Japanese Yoshiaki Numata on June 15, 1967 in Tokyo to lose all his titles.
Elorde also challenged Carlos Ortiz twice for his WBC and/or WBA lightweight title but he was stopped by the still-alive Puerto Rican each time in the 14th round.
Regardless, Elorde remains the world’s longest-reigning champion ever in the junior lightweight division at seven years and three months. The record for the longest reign by a Filipino world boxing champion, though, now belongs to Donnie (Ahas) Nietes.
A Bogo, Cebu native, Elorde finally called it quits after losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Japanese Hiruyuki Murakami in Tokyo, Japan in May 1971 and finished with a record of 89 wins (33 KOs), 27 losses and two draws.
In retirement, Elorde became a chain smoker and finally died of lung cancer on January 2, 1985 at age 49.