Taiwan’s first professional boxing championship starts in March, with Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao as its honorary president.
Carry Fighting Sports Group Corp chief executive Jerry Yen on Tuesday announced the newly established Carry Fighting Championship’s (CFC) partnership with Pacquiao at a news conference in Taipei.
Pacquiao, the only boxer to have won eight world championships at different weights, landed in Taiwan for the first time on Monday evening.
Photo: CNA
He told reporters he was excited to participate in the “groundbreaking initiative within Taiwan’s fighting community.”
“I believe the CFC will become a new milestone in the fighting sports world, showing the limitless potential Taiwan holds in this field,” he said.
Although the 45-year-old world boxing icon announced his retirement in 2021, the nascent Taiwanese league wants his spirit and expertise to help it succeed on the international stage, Yen said.
“Mr Pacquiao will leverage his strength and experience to organize, promote [the CFC] and help elevate Taiwan’s international status in the ring,” he said.
The league, set to hold its first bout in March, would include a premier league featuring contracted boxers and a street fight league open for registration, CFC chief operating officer Billy Drummed said.
In addition to prize money for the champion in each weight division, all boxers in the premier league would be guaranteed a monthly salary and a bonus for each fight, Drummed said.
The prize money is expected to be NT$1 million (US$32,113), Yen said.
In the street league, boxers would earn prize money for each victory, as well as for winning in each weight class.
The premier league is to consist of four weight divisions with eight boxers each, while the street league would comprise 16 fighters in each of the six weight divisions. The entire program is to be televised.
Further details would be released on the league’s official Web site and on social media, Drummed added.
As the first organization of its kind in Taiwan, the CFC aims to provide local boxers “a deserving stage,” talk show producer Hauer Hsieh said.
Echoing Hsieh’s sentiment, Su Hsiao-ken, head coach of CFC partner Kenjon Boxing Center of Motion, said that CFC embodies a Taiwan boxing culture in the making.
“Taiwan has never lacked boxing talent ... but we do not have other stages for them to shine other than the Olympics and the Asian Games. I hope the CFC will serve as a stage that facilitates the professionalization of the sport” in Taiwan, he said.
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