INTERNATIONAL boxing judge Arnie Najera has huge plans in his one-year term as president of the Professional Boxing Officials-Central Visayas (PBO-CV), kicking it off with a free referees’ seminar by famed veteran referee Bruce McTavish on Sunday, July 7, 2019 at the IPI Main Auditorium in Mabolo.
“Actually, this was my personal agenda even before I became president of this group. This is my crusade. But in the past, there was no support so the idea died before it could fly. This time, I really pushed for it and I kept it a secret until after we’ve got everything covered for Mr. McTavish. My thinking is if we do our share--that is uplift the capacity of our judges-- we are also helping the boxing community as well,” Najera told SunStar Cebu.
McTavish, a World Boxing Council (WBC) Referee of the Year in 2013, 2015 and 2017, will be teaching basic refereeing--illegal blows, other fouls and when to stop a fight. The seminar includes lectures, audio-visual presentation, actual scoring and refereeing demonstrations.
“This was supposed to be only for our group but we decided to open it up to everybody,” said Najera, who was elected to the position last March.
Around 30 to 50 persons are expected to join the seminar. The participants range from referees, judges, ring physicians, timekeepers, ring inspectors, boxing trainers and even boxing writers.
Aside from the referees’ seminar, Najera also wants to hold one or two more events before the year and ends.
“This is only the start. I have more ideas in mind. Hopefully, I can do that before my term ends,” he said.
Najera’s ultimate goal before his one-year term expires is to give boxing officials life insurance.
“I’ll do one or two more before the year ends. And I’ll do one big project before the year ends, probably towards the end, one that can earn money for the group so that I can buy the members the promised insurance coverage for all,” said Najera. “How many times were our lives placed in danger during a boxing event. There were shooting incidents during a provincial event. I, myself, was involved in a vehicular accident coming from Tuburan in the wee hours of the morning. Those things, those are life hazards. I have my own personal insurance, but how about the others?” (EKA)