Renerio Arizala Receives “WBC Champion Medal” During Joint JBC/GAB Presscon in the Philippines

By Carlos Costa

MANILA, Philippines    —   Filipino fighter Renerio Arizala, 25, the brave boxer who survived two brain surgeries after a knockout loss last March 31, 2019, in Yokohama, Japan, has been awarded a “Champion’s Medal” for his courage by the World Boxing Council (WBC).

Arizala’s shining green and golden medal was presented to him by WBC International Secretary and head of the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) Tsuyoshi Yasokuchi today, May 16, during a meaningful joint Japan Boxing Commission/Philippines’ Games and Amusement Board press conference held at GAB’s head office in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The significant event was led by the two Games and Amusement Board commissioners, Eduard B. Trinidad and commissioner Mario I. Masanguid who on behalf of GAB Chairman Bhama Mitra expressed the immense joy that GAB and the Filipino boxing family feels for the safe return and speedy recovery of young Filipino boxer Renerio Arizala, who is now back in the Motherland with his family under the care that he deserves.

The act was attended by Japanese matchmaker Takashi Aoshima, JBC’s Tsuyoshi Yashokuchi and Kazuhiro Ryuko of the Japan Pro Boxing Association (JPBA), the men accompanied the fallen Filipino boxer in his flight home from his hospital bed in Japan to the Philippines.  

“There was much worry about Arizala in Yokohama, Japan,” said Tsuyoshi Yasokuchi during the press conference.

“That night, Arizala fought so bravely, so bravely.    Unfortunately, the accident happened.   I am so very sorry we couldn’t protect him completely.   But we tried to do our best.

“Arizala (kept on) fighting every day.    Totally 45 days.   Finally, God saved him.

“He is recovering very quickly.   Very quickly.   At first, I saw a very dangerous situation.   But he fought so bravely.  

“So I would like to express my deepest gratitude to every people who supported Arizala so heartfeltly.  

“Without your help maybe he cannot come very soon here (to the Philippines).   So I really appreciate it.

And, as I say that he (Arizala) is a young man who fights so very bravely, so I am honored to give him a symbol of a champion (the WBC Champion Medal),”

In addition, Kazuhiro Ryuko added that “all the medical treatment of Arizala we pay for it, hoping that Arizala will be fine having a bright happy healthy future ahead of him” said Ryuko, 46, a former super flyweight world title challenger.

Also participating in the important act were GAB Official Jackie Lou Cacho, GAB Legal Division head Atty. Ermar U. Benitez, GAB Medical Division Head Dr.  Radentor R. Viernes and GAB Boxing Chief Dioscoro B. Bautista.

During these first days back in the Philippines, Renerio Arizala will continue under observation at the Manila Medical Center (Manila Med, a privete hospital in the Filipino capital), under the care of Rehab medicine physician Dr. Noel Nathaniel Napa.

Renerio Arizala, a devout Roman Catholic, will no longer fight as a boxer, for obvious reasons.    But he made a mark in Filipino boxing by surviving the unsurmountable ordeal of two brain surgeries, an almost mission impossible.  But he did it, coming back alive, getting better day by day.   

How did this young boxer manage to handle his unexpected close encounter with death?

The love he feels for his Lord Jesus, his parents and two brothers and his one sister carried him in the darkest, most lonely hours of his young life.

“I had faith in God and I had the image of my mother in my mind.  

“I wanted to survive for her.  And for my dad and family.    Honestly, I cried and I prayed.    Those long days that I spent in the Japan hospital with my head opened I prayed to be with my mother again.   Thanks to God I made it,” says a Renerio.  

A round of applause for Renerio Arizala, a young man who walked through a valley of darkness and came through.. for The Lord was with him.    

Photos by Carlos Costa

The author Carlos Costa is a Panama boxing reporter living in the Philippines.   Carlos can be reached at carlos512@hotmail.comand by whatsapp/viber/wechat:  +639184538152.