319. World Boxing Champion, GABRIEL ‘FLASH’ ELORDE for KLIM POWDERED MILK, 1960

ELORDE FAMILY FOR KLIM POWDERED MILK, 1960

KLIM was one of the early American milk brands that found its way to the Philippines, through importer Getz Bros. in the early 1930s. the brand is “MILK” spelled backwards, first createad in 1920 by Merrell-Soule Company of Syracuse, New York. It was developed as a dehydrated whole-milk powder for use in the tropics, where ordinary milk tended to spoil quickly, so it was perfect for the Philippines. In fact, during World War II, it was included as part of the military jungle rations of the U.S. Army and was used by the Red Cross to feed prisoners of war

KLIM was advertised as early as 1935 in the Philippines, and was actively promoted through the decades, especially through its peak years in the 60s. 

In 1960, the Borden company sought the services of rising professional boxer,  GABRIEL “Flash” ELORDE (b. 25 Mar. 1935/ d. 2 Jan. 1985), who made his professional debut at the age of 16  in 1951, against Kid Gonzaga. He was the most well-known boxer in the country by that time, and lost only twice in his first 14 fights. But he gained international prominence when he became the  Junior Lightweight Champion of the World against Harold Gomes.

 Elorde and his family, which included wife Laura, two boys and daughter, appeared in the 2-color print ad for KLIM—The Complete Milk--where he claims that “My family keep in shape with KLIM”. “That’s why, I think every family should drink this milk”, he suggests, “my family always drinks KLIM at mealtimes”.

 By the end of his long and illustrious boxing career in 1971, Elorde had a achieved a record that is hard to beat: The first Filipino boxer to hold the WBA and WBC World Title belts, the first to become a World Super Featherweight/Junior Lightweight Champion, and the first to hold longest the Junior lightweight division title--7 years 3 months. Elorde retired with a record of 88 wins (33 KOs), 27 losses and 2 draws.

 

Even in retirement, Elorde was a visible presence on Philippine media, due t his association with San Miguel Beer. He was tapped to appear in a 1984 commercial for the world-famous beer along with Bert Marcelo and Rico J. Puno, entitled “Pulutan”, where he delivered the punchline “isang platitong mani”. The commercial was voted the year’s best TV ad for 1984.

Considered as the greatest super featherweight champion of all time in WBC history, he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1988 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. Elorde also made itof the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years by Ring Magazine, the world’s leading publication on the sports of boxing. Two of his grandsons, Juan Miguel and Juan Martin Elorde, have followed in his footsteps as boxers.

SOURCES:

KLIM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klim_(powdered_milk)

Gabriel Elorde: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Elorde

Elorde Photo: ebay.com

BoxRec/Boxing's Official Record Keeper: Flash Elorde boxing records: https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/12678