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Thursday, August 11, 2005
Oyson: Z. Gorres fought a patsy
By Manuel N. Oyson, Jr.
Counter Punch
LAST Aug. 1, Cebu’s five dailies trumpeted a glowing tribute to Cebu’s Z Gorres, who from their respective ringside accounts, failed to knockout his Thai opponent two days earlier at the San Andres Civic and Sports Center in Malate, Manila.
Just look at the lopsided scores of the judges after 10 rounds – identical 100-88.
It was one-sided a fight as could be. Hurrah for Gorres, who is dreamily called “The Dream” for toying with Deeden Kengkarum. If he was a baseball pitcher, Gorres pitched a shutout, wrote Philippine Star Sports columnist Joaquin M. Henson.
That same day, I came across the column of sports columnist Recah Trinidad of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His version of Gorres’ win contrasted with the version of other writers. He said that Gorres nearly succeeded also in putting the whole stadium to sleep. It sent frustrated fans leaving and calling it a night with still three good fights left in the stellar card. I was intrigued by his column, which occupied almost a fourth of the paper’s sports page under the title “Dream turns into baby nightmare.”
DULLEST. Trinidad said that Gorres failed to deliver his promise to fascinate, if not to knockout his foe cold.
“To an acclaimed pianist, he bungled his first homecoming concerto,” Trinidad wrote.
I was not in San Andres that night so let me just allow Trinidad to do the talking. He says, “Truth is, our main man was supposed to be only sharpening his knives before going for the Orient, and then the world crown. Gorres, lean and luminous, did appear ready for the world in the tense and tight opening round.
“In fact, in the second round, he lurked like a full-sized marvel and toppled his Thai foe with an overhand left to the head. The crowd roared. The fans got up and thumped their happy feet. They were now ready for the main dish. But bugles and drums suddenly turned mute and silent. What would follow in the next eight rounds was an inexplicable display of the dullest boxing by someone trumpeted as the next big star.”
DUD. Trinidad continues: “By standing his ground, the slow and predictable stranger succeeded in exposing the soft ends of the up-and-coming Pinoy celebrity. Snorted Manny Piñol, a fighter who has seen enough bouts to know the difference between a duel and a lullaby: ‘He’s got the right name, the Big Z, he’s a certified sleeping pill.’ Gorres, moving in and out with tentative combinations, proved to be a dud as he refused to dig in and go for the kill.
“It was a long, lonely night for the fans but Gorres just waited and coasted along, a lazy vessel waiting to dock. Of course, he was declared winner by unanimous decision. However, Gorres would be unfair if he had given himself a passing grade for his performance on Saturday. He did not look even half ready for the Orient title. Repeat: the Thai was hardly a puzzle.
Trinidad closes with this account: “Well, there has been no established alibi behind the Saturday lullaby in San Andres. But then why did handlers allow Gorres to push his punches instead of flick them? You push or make someone you wanted to wake up. You hit, sharply with a cobra-bite snap, the opponent inside the ring. Instead of a spear, Gorres appeared to have wielded a dull, uneven old hammer.”
In his own column two days later, boxing analyst Joaquin M. Henson said in Philippine Star Sports that a check of records showed that Gorres’ opponent, Deedem Kengkarum, did not belong in the same ring. “With credentials like Kengkarum’s, he could only be a patsy. And that just accentuated Gorres’ failure to put him to sleep,” he added. The boxing fiasco, which Trinidad compared to a native lullaby, earned P150,000 for Gorres. His benefactors are Rudy Salud and Antonio Aldeguer. The latest twist is that Salud has already dissociated himself from Gorres.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “That forgettable bout, which had fans cursing Gorres’ lack of guts and sharpness, confirmed suspicions that the Cebuano protégé’ had all been overrated.” – Sports columnist Recah Trinidad in a later column (“Bare Eye” PDI, Aug. 8)
(mno@sunstar.com.ph)
(August 11, 2005 issue)
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