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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Oyson: Barrera fought a mismatch, a non-event
By Manuel N. Oyson, Jr.
Counter Punch
WHO is Mzonke Fana? Well, he is from South Africa and the only redeeming feature about him as a boxer is that he won a narrow split decision over Cebu’s Randy Suico on May 29 last year in Soweto, Johannesburg. He is also dubbed “The Rose of Cape Town.”
In their WBC elimination bout, Suico knocked Fana down in the first and fourth rounds. But when the scores were announced, Fana won on the cards of two judges, while Bruce McTavish favored Suico.
That made Fana a world-rated contender in the super-featherweight division of the World Boxing Council. That is as far as the boxing world knows about him.
But, either he is smarter than anyone or even smarter than our own Manny Pacquiao because he was offered a title match. Pacquiao has not been offered a title match by Barrera whom he knocked out last May 9 in Las Vegas.
MISMATCH. But Fana was accommodated by the Mexican for a title shot and was promptly dispatched to kingdom come two days ago.
Fana stepped inside the boxing arena in El Paso, Texas last Sunday in an attempt to wrest the WBC super-featherweight crown of Marco Antonio Barrera and was promptly knocked out in 1:48 of the second round of the scheduled 12-rounder.
A right to the head knocked Fana off-balance. A follow-up jab and another crunching right to the head finally sent the South African to the canvas.
The referee did not need to count as he told Fana, “You’ve had enough.”
From what I saw on TV, it was a mismatch and a con job and the public was taken for a ride, including the Mexican supporters of Barrera who naturally whooped it up. I am surprised that this also happens in world championship cards.
NON-EVENT. It was only his second fight outside Africa in 25 so-so fights, three of them losses. A story from the wires after the fight said: “There was more talk about this mismatch more than there was talk about the fight itself.”
I was not surprised that there was not enough pre-fight build-up preceding the fight as usually happens in world-title bouts. More so when Barrera himself was staking his crown. As far as local boxing writers were concerned, it was a non-event.
TESTIMONIAL. That was an unsolicited and welcome testimonial that our Chicago-based correspondent Homer D. Sayson wrote in this section yesterday.
I feel humbled. It is not always that a journalist writes about a rival but friendly colleague in glowing terms. More so if the former has his own army of fans and admirers worldwide as proven by his deluge of e-mails daily.
Homer’s piece was like an adrenalin shot to a man’s tired muscles after a hard and trying day. I did not expect him to take up what he called Counterpunch “meanderings.” I did not want to make a big fuss about my being deactivated from the list of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC). I did not even complain.
CASE OF BEER. I just wanted to set the record straight and make some clarifications when my next-door neighbor John Pages mentioned the All-Cebu Sports Awards in a previous column.
For many years until he died on April 30, 2000, the late Wilfredo “Boy” Veloso was the president of SAC. When John T. Tagle of The Morning Times suggested that I take over the presidency, I said that we should not rock the boat.
I can now proudly count the prominent sportswriters who have at least acknowledged the work that I have done for the last 53 years. They include Graeme Mackinnon, Recah Trinidad, Joaquin “Qunito” Henson. And now HDS.
I was still in my junior of Abellana National High School when I was the sports editor of The Light of Lapu-lapu. On October 1954, Teodoro C. Benigno, then sports editor of The Manila Chronicle and later press secretary of Cory Aquino, published in full in his column “My Score” my prediction that the Cleveland Indians would win the World Series against the New York Giants.
I lost my bet and I sent him a money order for 10 pesos, the price then of a case of beer. It was followed by six more years as sports editor of UV’s The Visayanian. After I became a lawyer in 1961, I could not just be an inactive sportswriter. That was the only outside “sideline” I was allowed to do without running afoul with Civil Service rules as I was with the Commission on Elections for 31 years.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “If that’s what the fans want, I’m here.” - Boxing champion Marco Antonio Barrera, when asked he would be ready to take on Erik Morales for the fourth time.
(mno@sunstar.com.ph)
(April 12, 2005 issue)
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