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BERT NABALATAN

posted by Kathleen Holland on July 7, 2008, in Features

By Jim Amato

This native of the Philippines did a lot of his fighting in Hawaii where he was a popular draw. He began his professional career in 1971 and won his first eight contests. Then in 1972 he was matched with former world's featherweight champion Kuniaki Shibata. This is the same Shibata who had dethroned the great Vincente Saldivar a few years earlier. Shibata then lost the title to the hard hitting Clemente Sanchez. This was Shibata's first fight since losing the title. It was a tall order for the novice Nabalatan and even though he lost, he took the former titleholder ten rounds.

Nabalatan rebounded to win his next seven before dropping a decision in 1973 to the slick boxing Leonel Hernandez. Bert then lost to another world ranked fighter in Salvador Torres. Nabalatan was still considered good enough to be ranked among the top ten junior lightweights by Ring magazine. In 1974 Nabalatan lost verdicts to Alfonso Perez and the rugged Royal Kobayashi. In 1975 Bert continued to meet world class opposition. He was outscored by the talented Tyrone Everett. Nabalatan then lost a duke to veteran contender Octavio Gomez.

There would be two more fights, both of which he won before Nabalatan retired. In all he participated in 29 bouts with a fine 22-7 record. He scored sixteen knockouts. To Bert's credit he was never stopped and his losses were all to top level competition.

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