Sunday, November 6, 2022 – 00:02 WIB
VIVA Sport – Do you know Indonesian boxing legend, Yani Malhendo? The former WBC International flyweight champion who once made a boxer of the caliber of Manny Pacquiao give up before fighting? Here’s the story.
Yani Malhendo, a boxer who was born in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara in 1968, once made a scene in the national boxing world. He started a career in boxing starting with becoming a national champion in 3 different classes, followed by an IBF International junior flyweight champion and also a WBC International junior bantamweight champion.
The duel was scheduled to take place in the Philippines in April 1996 in a 10-round non-flyweight title duel. At that time Pacman, as Pacquiao was nicknamed, was still young, he was only 18 years old while Yani Malhendo was 28 years old. Reporting from various sources, Yani and Pacquiao are ready to duel.
Yani and his team went to the Philippines with the promised payment of 1500 USD. Weigh until the health check has been done, and the day of the fight has come. But a few hours before the duel began, Pacquiao’s ‘cowardly’ incident came.
The promoter along with the manager and representatives of the Pacman team approached Yani’s team. They briefly explained that Pacquiao could not compete, not saying why.
The promoter gave an option for Yani to compete with other opponents, Yani’s team was shocked. They didn’t agree and the discussion was tough.
