All set for Torre- Duterte tiff, but will Baste show up?

The boxing ring is already set, the undercards and referees were chosen, and the pledges of support from sponsors keep on coming.

- By AARON RECUENCO and IVY TEJANO

The only uncertain at this point is whether or not acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte will show up at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila on Sunday, July 27, for the much-anticipated boxing match with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III.

“While the chief PNP is busy on his job, he will come on Sunday at the Rizal Coliseum,” said PNP spokesperson Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo. “And whether or not Mayor Baste would show up, our chief PNP will be there,” she stressed.

Duterte challenged Torre in a fistfight in one of his podcasts, and the entire nation was surprised after Torre accepted the challenge but said he would turn it into a charity boxing match for typhoon victims.

The excitement of the fight, however, was replaced by doubts that it would push through after Duterte laid down his own condition—that he would fight Torre if President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and all government officials would undergo drug test.