The story about Filipino boxers in Australia goes deeper than what people see on the surface level.
The three boxers who went AWOL will be in real trouble if they do not return of their own free will soon. Deportation is the likely option, never to return. But if they decide to come back to their Campbelltown residence soon, they could plead that they had merely taken a much-needed ”vacation” or ”break”.
One of them, Walrito Paderna, was one of the boxers who ran at the City-to- Surf race last year. He was also present during the Christmas celebration of Ateneo Alumni Australia when the association donated used clothing for their families in the Philippines. Journalist Jimmy Pimentel believes that he could persuade Paderna to go back to his manager, if he could talk to the boxer. Pimentel said that Paderna had no quarrel with his manager.
Filipino boxers who come to Australia on temporary ‘Sports Visas’ are constantly enticed and tempted with offers of better management and a better life elsewhere in Australia. Many of them however, get into trouble later ~ pregnant girl friend, illegitimate child, and law-breaking. One boxer named ”Roberto” in 1997, committed suicide after leaving the Filipino manager who brought him here. He left his Filipino manager to join an Australian, married to a Filipina, in Liverpool where he got into trouble, became deeply depressed and killed himself.
Most of these boxers are better off where they live now.