It was the Fight of the Year that never was.
This, after acting Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte had challenged Philippine National Police chief Nicolas Torre III to a fist fight, which the PNP chief accepted.
The fight originally scheduled for Sunday, July 27 (Manila time) at the Araneta Coliseum, was moved to the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, where a ring had been set up and the 12-round fight was sanctioned by the Games and Amusement Board.
There was only one problem. Only one of the protagonists showed up.
In the days leading up to the fight, Torre had even trained for the battle, even admitting that he was not as strong as before – he’s 55 – and his stamina was also waning.
His opponent, however, gave a series of excuses why he would not show up, including going surfing one day, then heading for Singapore another time.
Duterte said since Torre had given a condition to their one-on-one, he should also be allowed to give his.
While Torre had said that he was amenable to a 12-round bout with proceeds going to relief work for the victims of last week’s floods, Duterte said all government officials should first take a hair follicle drug test, including President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
Duterte would later say that he was “too busy” and that their fight could wait another day.
Finally, the acting mayor said he “never” challenged Torre to a fight. He had only stated that If the two fought, he was sure that he would beat the PNP chief who is nearly 20 years older than him to a pulp.
His claim was belied when footage of his original challenge aired a week ago were posted in multiple social media sites on the day of the scheduled fight.
A referee who was at ringside declared Torre as the winner by default in a “no contest.”
Despite his tough talk, Duterte became the butt of jokes on social media for being a chicken and bringing shame to the Visayan people, who have a reputation for never backing down from a fight, especially one that they started.
For his part, Torre dismissed Duterte as a “little boy” whose excuses were the result of his inability to communicate clearly.
The clear winner was the ongoing drive to help the flood victims, as the gate receipts along with donations from various sponsors exceeded PHP16 million.
Duterte is the acting mayor of Davao City, as his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte remains in The Hague, pending trial for mass murder filed by the International Criminal Court. The younger Duterte won as vice-mayor while his father won back the post he held for decades.
The Duterte family blames President Marcos Jr. and especially PNP chief Torre for arresting the former president, whom they insist was kidnapped.
In fact, it was Interpol which served the arrest warrant on the former president assisted by the PNP.
Torre was also head of the team that arrested Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, a close personal friend of the former president and who claimed to own the universe.
Torre was favored to win the fight despite the age gap with Duterte, as the PNP chief was a boxer in his younger days, and is a third degree black belt in karate and is also a judo practitioner.
