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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Sayson: The magic words
By Homer Sayson
Secondovertime
CHICAGO – As Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista navigated the short steps from his locker room to the ring apron for his promising career’s toughest test thus far, ALA stable owner Antonio L. Aldeguer appeared very relaxed, as calm as a guy who was about to sit down for a haircut.
But as fight time neared, the pro-Hispanic cheers inside the Showcase Theater rose into an unholy din. That’s when I noticed Mr. Aldeguer’s uneasiness.
As Rey was formally introduced, ALA began pacing around the periphery of the ring apron, taking small, flustered steps from pillar to post. And even after he finally sat on a grayish metal folding chair just underneath Boom-Boom’s corner, ALA was fretful.
When the fight’s first four rounds rocked and rollicked like the waves of the Bering Sea, Tony became increasingly restless. He fidgeted, twitched, rested his huge hands on his unsteady knees, folded it and leaned backward.
He stood again and sat. He crossed and uncrossed his legs. He tried everything, but ALA couldn’t quiet find a balsam to his torment.
Butterflies in the stomach? Try dragons spewing fire. A little scared? Try nervous wreck.
But that’s just Tony. So passionate when it comes to his fighters.
He looks after every ALA stable ward as though they were his children. He ducks when they get punched, he bleeds when they get hurt, and like no other manager does in our side of the world, Aldeguer guides his boxers the day they make the inevitable transition from the roped jungle to the civilized and unkind real world.
The one thing Tony never does is get in the way of his trainers and cornermen during the course of a fight. But last Dec. 23, he did.
During the break between the sixth and seventh rounds, Aldeguer went to Boom-Boom’s corner, raised a clenched fist, and hollered something at the divinely gifted bantamweight.
Boom-Boom nodded his head eagerly, and with his eyes fixed on Aldeguer, he also raised a clenched left fist. Bautista then turned to Gerardo Espinoza across the ring, and the Boholano looked at the Mexican with the anger of a guy whose lunch money had just been stolen.
From that moment on, Espinoza was a dead man walking.
Moments later, I sauntered inside the packed Bautista locker room. A mixture of thick odors hung in the air, but the unmistakably sweet aroma of victory prevailed over the sticky, manly smell of sweat and leather gloves.
Boom-Boom sat on a stool, awash in exhaustion as Edito Villamor untied his shoes. Behind Boom-Boom was Freddie Roach, proud of Bautista’s triumph but wary of his careless tendencies.
In the middle of the calm, Tony Aldeguer’s phone went chaotic. Among those who made quick congratulatory calls were Tony’s son, Jay. Other well wishers included Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Lim, his executive assistant, Mark Monton, promoter par excellence Sammy Gello-ani, and countless reporters begging for an interview.
Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem texted his congratulatory message.
When the bedlam finally subsided, I settled in a seat next to Aldeguer. By then, the magnitude of Boom-Boom’s triumph was slowly but deliciously beginning to sink in.
“What did you tell Boom-Boom when you paid him a visit at the end of the sixth round?” I asked.
With a little boyish smile, one that revealed a perfect set of pearly white teeth, Aldeguer told me the magic words that induced Bautista into an awe-inspiring, late-round rampage.
In the vernacular, Tony told Rey this: “Don’t forget the Filipino people. They are all rooting for you. Do not fail them!”
I asked Rey about Aldeguer’s words of encouragement and he admitted that it lit a fire in his belly, a fire that smoldered into an inferno when the bout resumed. “Nainit ko sir sa gisulti ni sir Ala.” (I got fired up by sir Ala’s words.)
In my few short years as a sportswriter, I have known Antonio L. Aldeguer as a loving husband, doting father, successful businessman, no-nonsense manager and humanitarian. Last Dec. 23, at the Showcase Theater of the Sycuan Resort and Casino in El Cajon, California, I was pleasantly surprised that Aldeguer had one more likeable trait in his personality.
Motivational speaker.
(homsay@hotmail.com)
(December 28, 2005 issue)
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