Acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte clarified in his recent podcast appearance that he never formally challenged Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III to a boxing match—despite public perception suggesting otherwise.
“I didn’t challenge you,” Duterte said. “What I said was, if we ever got into a fistfight, I’d beat you up.”
This statement came after Duterte skipped the highly anticipated charity boxing match titled “Boxing for a Cause: Laban Para sa Nasalanta,” held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, July 27. Torre was declared the winner by default following Duterte’s no-show.
According to Duterte, he had a prior commitment and left for Singapore with his family on Friday—two days before the scheduled bout.
The acting mayor previously criticized the idea of turning the match into a charity event, questioning why victims of flooding in Metro Manila were being used to frame the narrative of a personal grudge. He also took a jab at Torre’s boxing form, saying the PNP chief still needed more practice.
Although Duterte previously floated the idea of a fight without cameras or gloves, he insisted that the original conversation was never about an official match. Instead, he argued, it was Torre who escalated it into a public spectacle.
