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Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Sayson: How a knockdown helps a knockout artist
By Homer Sayson
Secondovertime
CHICAGO – Sitting at my ringside seat for the Rey Bautista-Gerardo Espinoza fight last Dec. 23, I heard the distinct crack of a glove coming into contact with a jawbone. What followed next was the horrifying sight of Boom-Boom awkwardly peeling himself from the canvas, a victim of a violent left hook.
Rey safely beat the count, but his eyes looked foggy, his confidence demonstrably groggy, and his legs went rubbery.
To my left was ALA stable owner Antonio L. Aldeguer, his head bowed in shock and disbelief. To my right, beside where the judges sat, Mike Koncz, Rey’s US agent, was virtually motionless. His look didn’t reveal any panic, but Mike must have been sweating in his gorgeous suit.
When the referee motioned the fight to continue, Espinoza rumbled towards Bautista with criminal intent. I took a deep breath and my heart pounded heavily, bursting out of my chest in fear. I’m not quite religious, but I remember telling myself “Homer, this would be a good time to pray.”
Although he survived a total collapse, Rey was a mess. He was hurt and disheveled. And when the forgettable second round finally ended, Boom-Boom staggered his way to the wrong corner, away from the rescuing arms of his cornermen, Edito Villamor and Freddie Roach.
Rey had just lost his innocence. Gone is the aura of never being knocked down.
But the irony here is that, by clawing back from such a terrible spot, Rey manifested the traits that would make him a great world champion someday.
HEART AND POISE. Unbeaten at 19-0, critics continue to unfairly hammer Boom-Boom in the papers. But with this gut-wrenching reversal of fate, some of those doubts should quickly dissipate.
Sensing trouble, and with his knees betraying him, Rey gallantly averted disaster by just sucking all the pain. Amid the jeers of a pro-Hispanic crowd, he withstood Espinoza’s barrage, showing maturity beyond his 18 years.
In the aftermath of his knockdown, a punch he described as “kusog kaayo” (very hard), Rey kept his poise, flicking stiff jabs, dancing away from trouble, and clinging when he should.
Following a vicious knockdown, lesser mortals would have folded the tent and opt to fight another day. But Rey’s heart proved to be bigger than the province of Bohol. He would not be denied.
PATIENCE. When a fighter gets decked, his mind inevitably gets poisoned. He’ll think of the 10-8 deficit and often gets too careless in the attempt to get even. Rey didn’t show panic at all.
Instead, Boom-Boom stuck to the game plan. He committed himself to winning the fight round by round, and he meticulously carried out that strategy by jabbing consistently and throwing combinations with astounding regularity.
Rey had a well-rounded offense. He nipped at his foe’s body patiently, and he went for the head kill when the opportunity presented itself.
STAMINA AND CONDITIONING. Freddie Roach told me that Rey “wouldn’t have survived if he weren’t in excellent shape.” Absolutely.
Even though some of his strength was sapped by the knockdown, Rey never slowed down. The lefts came furiously with the rights. And like our monthly bills, his jabs never stopped coming, while his relentlessness never tapered off.
As if it was his fault that most of his foes fell in front of him like flies against a car windshield, many accuse Boom-Boom as a one-dimensional knockout artist who’ll have trouble breathing in the later rounds.
That’s all a myth now.
Rey is an artist, indeed, but he doesn’t just specialize in knockouts. He is also capable of an eight-round masterpiece, like the one he painted at the boxing canvas of the Sycuan Resort and Casino’s Showcase Theater.
And Rey is no longer just a 100-meter dash wonder. When needed, he can also last the distance and finish it off in a blaze of glory.
Make no mistake, Rey is far from a complete fighter, but with the guts and glory that he showed on that starry night in southern California, it is now implicitly clear that Candijay, Bohol’s favorite son is slowly but surely molding into a superstar.
(e-mail: homsay@hotmail.com)
(December 27, 2005 issue)
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