The Papuan people miss the presence of a professional boxer who has achieved and made Papua proud in the national and international arena. One manifestation of their longing was when Papua held the National Sports Week in 2020, there was an exhibition match between two former professional boxers from Papua, namely Benny Manufandu and Zeth Morin. In addition to satisfying the longing of the Papuan people, the exhibition match also proved to be entertaining for the community and is expected to trigger motivation for young athletes to get involved in the world of boxing and start training. Moreover, boxing training facilities in Papua have been built together with the construction of facilities for the last National Sports Week.
Paulus Waterpauw, who is a retired Indonesian police officer with the rank of Three-Star General, felt the need to provide an event that could increase public attention to boxing. Therefore, he initiated a competition for prospective boxing athletes from Papua called the East Phoria Sport Championship. Paulus’s hope when holding this event was to be able to present a boxing event that had long been missed by the Papuan people while selecting prospective athletes who had the potential to be trained in training camps in preparation for the next National Sports Week and other events.
Boxing in Papua has indeed begun to be less popular due to the lack of regeneration. Moreover, Papua is known as a province that stands out in other sports such as the most famous is football where the talent from Papua seems endless. Every year, there are always talented young football players from Papua. As for boxing itself, it is very rare for young Papuans to seriously train in boxing. The participation of the Papuan athlete contingent in the last National Sports Week was also relatively small.
Paulus Waterpauw saw that young people in Papua have the physical condition that is suitable to be developed into professional boxing athletes. Therefore, he collaborated with several sponsors to fund the East Phoria Sport Championship competition. The hope is of course that the event can attract the interest of young Papuans so that they dare to take part in the boxing competition. The winners of the event will be given prizes and also coaching money to fund the training process to become boxing athletes. Another hope is of course to promote boxing in Papua again so that it has the same fame as other sports, especially to rival the fame of football. This boxing competition event is also planned to be held routinely every six months so that it can provide events and competitions for prospective boxing athletes in all regions of Papua Province.