{"id":168192,"date":"2025-11-04T15:22:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/el-presidente-de-la-gab-dio-la-bienvenida-a-los-oficiales-del-wbc-antes-de-thrilla-in-manila-2-50-aniversario\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T15:32:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:32:42","slug":"gab-chairman-welcomed-wbc-officials-ahead-of-thriller-in-manila-2-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/gab-chairman-welcomed-wbc-officials-ahead-of-thriller-in-manila-2-50th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"GAB Chairman Welcomed WBC Officials Ahead of \u201cThriller in Manila 2: 50th Anniversary\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>GAB Chairman Welcomed WBC Officials Ahead of \u201cThriller in Manila 2: 50th Anniversary\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In the lead-up to one of the year\u2019s most significant boxing events, key representatives from the World Boxing Council (WBC) paid a courtesy visit to the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) on 27 October 2025 in Makati City. The meeting took place just days before the highly anticipated \u201cThriller in Manila 2: 50th Anniversary\u201d event was held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on 29 October 2025.<\/p>\n<p>WBC International Secretary Aku Zhang, accompanied by senior WBC officials, was welcomed by GAB Chairman Atty. Francisco J. Rivera at the GAB Central Office. The delegation\u2019s visit underscored the significance of the Philippines as host nation for the commemorative showcase, which marked the 50th anniversary of the famed 1975 heavyweight encounter between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, Chairman Rivera expressed his appreciation to the WBC for selecting the Philippines to host such a milestone event, reaffirming the country\u2019s long-standing passion and respect for the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thank you, gentlemen, for supporting Philippine boxing. By holding it here, we once again had a very big event\u2014and boxing is big in the Philippines. This showed that the sport is very much alive in our country,\u201d Chairman Rivera said.<\/p>\n<p>The visit also served as an avenue for discussions on developments in officiating standards, regulatory cooperation, and athlete welfare. Both the GAB and the WBC emphasized their shared commitment to ensuring fairness, professionalism, and integrity across all levels of the sport.<\/p>\n<p>As \u201cThrilla in Manila 2\u201d approached, the GAB reaffirmed its dedication to safeguarding athlete welfare and promoting the continued global advancement of Philippine boxing. The event stood not only as a tribute to an iconic moment in sports history but also as a testament to the Philippines\u2019 enduring legacy and influence in world boxing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-168185 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-300x157.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-300x157.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-1024x536.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-768x402.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-1536x804.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-260x136.jpeg 260w, https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GAB_Philippines-50x26.jpeg 50w, 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\u201cThriller in Manila 2: 50th Anniversary\u201d In the lead-up to one of the year\u2019s most significant boxing events, key<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_168192\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"168192\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 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class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":168184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-news","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}