By Ronnie Nathanielsz

The latest ratings issued by the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation or OPBF has raised some serious questions about the rationale behind the ratings.

While five Filipino boxers were ranked No.1 and in line for title shots, there have been a couple of seriously questionable rankings.

The most glaring is the dropping of WBO Asia Pacific super featherweight champion Czar Amonsot from the top ten despite the fact that he was ranked No.3 in the last ratings issued in December 2005.

What is even more inexplicable is the fact that Amonost is coming off a bloody unanimous eight round decision over hard-hitting Mexican Christian Favela at the Orleans Hotel & Casino last February 3. With the win Amonsot improved to 14-1-1 with 10 knockouts, including a smashing eighth round KO of rugged Indonesian Victor Mausul in a title fight last November.

In stark contrast, the OPBF moved Jimrex Jaca who was not even in the top ten in the last ratings to No.1. Although Jaca has a record of 25-1-1 with 12 KO’s. Much was made of Jaca’s first round TKO of Geronimo Hernandez in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao Erik Morales rematch  last January but the harsh reality is that Hernandez was a late substitute and appeared to be out of shape and even had indications of a paunch.

Hernandez, according to the records of boxrec.com which could be inaccurate to some extent, is listed as having a record of more defeats than victories – 14-18-1 with 6 knockouts. In addition the 31 year old lightweight lost 12 of his 18 fights either by KO or TKO. In short Jaca beat what in regular boxing parlance is referred to as a “bum.”

Prior to his win over Hernandez, Jaca scored a second round TKO over Samuel Duran, a terribly washed up 37 year old Filipino whose record tells the story – 71-27-2 with 35 KO’s. Duran was good in his day but that’s long gone..

In an email to Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today, OPBF president Frank Quill said that since Amonsot had been dropped from the GAB rankings he could not conceivably be ranked by the OPBF.

However, Quill conveniently overlooked the fact that super flyweight Z “The Dream” Gorres continues to be ranked No. 1 and will in fact fight for the vacant OPBF title on March 18 against former champion Waengpetch Chuwatana while WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista continues to be ranked No.1 in the latest OPBF ratings despite not being rated by the Philippine Games and Amusements Board..

Former super featherweight champion Randy Suico who relinquished his title to move up to the lightweight division quite surprisingly was ranked No.1 in the 135 pound category without even throwing a punch.

While we have great respect for the ability of Suico, it does seem rather odd that the moment he moves up in weight he ends up No.1 and in line for a mandatory shot at the title of Chikashi Inada. Something is simply not right here.

Japan’s Shunsuke Ito who was ranked No.1 in the previous ratings and last November 10 won the Japanese title with a second round TKO demolition of Kazuki Kubota was unceremoniously relegated to No.2 when he was in line for a mandatory title shot against Inada. Now Suico invades the rankings and gets the mandatory title shot.  We wonder why.

Besides, Ito has a record of 19-2-1 with 14 knockouts and last suffered a defeat in October 2003 when he dropped a split decision. Since then he had won five straight bouts, three of them by stoppages.

These are some of the highly questionable decisions in the latest OPBF ratings. If the sport is to maintain some degree of respectability which fight fans demand then it must start with the ratings where integrity should never be compromised.