Actually, I don't know much about boxing stuff, but when I was a kid, a name aired to my ear and begun to watch the boxing competition on black and white television. Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and other amazing heavyweight class boxers. Besides those names, I also admired Ellyas Pical, Super Flyweight boxer. He was the first Indonesia boxer who won International Boxing Competition for Super Flyweight. At his time, Ellyas Pical has won a 30 times world champion and one of the most stunning punchers in Super Flyweight history. His powerful left hand made him nicknamed as "the Exocet" the British's rockets had been using in the Falklands war.
Ellyas Pical was born in 1960 in the village Ullath, Indonesia. The Ullath was located on the island of Saparua, where many people of this island doing a diving job to collect the pearls from the nearby the seas, and Elyas Pical was one of them. At a very young age, he becomes a pearl diver. Pical was recorded as the first Indonesia boxer won the International boxing competition. He grabbed three titles of the world championship. The Asian Boxing Association stated that:
Pical is the world class Super Flyweight said the Elly was splendid boxer in history. He succesfully won 20 titles, 11 won over the KOs, 1 draw, and 5 losses.
Passion in Boxing
Elly, that what people called him, was quite inspired by Muhammad Ali that was broadcasted on National Television and he determined to pick up the boxing in his teens. In the following days, he seriously trained secretly because his father would not allow him to be a boxer. In 1980, Pical appeared on the boxing map as an amateur boxer. He participated at the 3rd President's Cup in Jakarta. On this competition, Pical used his through back skill and made him known as the young fighter who won the Gold Medal in the 51KG division where the Kim Ji-Won also took a part in the competition. As with many fighters, especially in the East, Pical's early opponents were obscure and many only have a solely recorded fight. What we do know about his early career, however, is that Pical suffered his first defeat 1983 losing a decision Edward Apay before claiming the Indonesian Super Flyweight title later that same year. A little over 18 months after Pical had claimed the President's Cup his compatriot Thomas Americo fought Saoul Mamby for the WBC Welterweight title. This was the first ever world title fight in Indonesia, and it was the first world title fight featuring an Indonesia.
Boxing Career
Ellyas Pical begins his professional boxing career in 1982 when he was at 22 years of age. In 1984, Ellyas Pical's name again aired over Indonesia, it happened when he started the year by stopping former world title challenger Prayurasak Muangsurin inside a round in Thailand, and later on, he claimed the OPBF Super Flyweight title by traveling to South Korea and deciding to fight against Hi-Young Chung. The fight took a place in Bung Karno Stadium that was filled by a thousand Indonesian people as his fan, they wanted to see the miracle left hand of Ellyas Pical. In round 8 Elly launched his concussive left hand over Chung that sent him to the canvas and the crowd erupted in celebration. After defending the OPBF title once, stopping Mutsuo Watanabe, Pical was given his first world title fight. Pical's opponent was the then IBF Super Flyweight champion Ju-Do Chun who took to the ring not only the world title but also a very impressive record of 19-1-3 (10). He still defended the boxing champion title after knocking down Wayne Mulholland (Australian Boxer) in 3 rounds, on Agust 25, 1985. It was sad to say that this the only successful defense. Pical upset with the skills of Cesar Polanco that saw Pical's record falls to 12-2 (8). However, in the second fight that took a place in Jakarta, on 5 July 1986, Pical won KO's over Cesar Polanco and his reign defense the title of champion after winning over Chunn Lee, Sout Korean boxer in 10 round.
Retiring From the Boxing World
At 32 years of age, Ellyas Pical decided to retire from the boxing world after he lost against with Perez. He started a normal life, relaxing with his wife Rina Siahaya Pical, a dentist. The bad thing happened in 2005, Elly was charged on a drug that took him into the prison for seven months where the policemen found the drug in a discotheque, the place he worked as a security guard. This was shocking news to many Indonesian people that Pical was known as a religious person. In 2006, Pical was released. Elly spent seven months in prison on the drug charge. After long forgotten, Pical was then appointed as KONI's staff for Indonesian Olympic Committee. Today, Ellyas Pical is regarded as the boxing legend in Indonesia.
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