Tuesday, November 07, 2006 Pages: Boxing? Meet the 3 letters that spell KO By John Pages Matchpoint
ATTENTION: All tennis coaches, don’t miss it! This Friday and Saturday (Nov. 10 and 11), grab this rare chance to learn the ABCs of Coaching from one of Asia’s top tennis gurus.
Suresh Menon, the former no. 1 men’s player of Malaysia, will be in town to conduct a Tennis Coaches Workshop. This is an International Tennis Federation (ITF) project and Suresh is the ITF Developmental Officer for Asia. He’ll be in the Philippines for four days—two in Luzon, two in Cebu.
Menon’s credentials are impressive. He was the former National Coach of Indonesia and later, of Malaysia. He’s also worked with several top-ranked players including Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia. Under his leadership, the Indonesian women’s team won a record two gold medals at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.
Suresh will be joined by Chris Cuarto, a former RP men’s no. 4 star. Cuarto is an RP National Coach and is currently coaching the Ateneo de Manila University tennis team.
So mark these days: Nov. 10 and 11 from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Venue is at the Casino Espanol de Cebu along V. Ranudo St. The registration fee? A minimal P150/participant. Please register now because slots are limited. Call Ging-Ging Astilla at 416-1122 local 100. See you there!
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When Antonio Lopez Aldeguer speaks, everybody listens. I listened.
“Boxing is dangerous,” confessed Aldeguer. “Where can you find a sport where the objective is to hurt somebody else?”
Boxing? Dangerous? To you and me, yes, but to one who’s called “The Godfather of Cebu Boxing?”
“That’s why training,” he continued, “is very, very important.”
Heads nodded. Three heads, in fact. Those of boxing champions Michael Domingo, AJ Banal and Dondon Sultan.
We were seated around one round table. To Aldeguer’s left were Sultan, Banal and Domingo. To his right sat Sammy Gello-ani, Cebu’s “Don King,” and his wife Cora. Also seated around were Christine Inocencio Aldeguer and Dong Secuya, the creator of philboxing.com, one of RP’s top websites (“and one of the top 10 boxing websites in the world!” proclaimed Aldeguer). I sat beside boxer Michael Domingo.
The occasion? It was the baptism luncheon at the Grand Convention Center of Sabina Sophia Lopez Lagumbay, the pretty one-and-a-half-month-old daughter of Salven and Leah Lagumbay.
You know Salven. If you’ve opened the back pages of the Cebu Daily News, you’ve seen his face. If you’ve clicked on mannypacquiao.ph and philboxing.com, you’ve read “Salven Reports.” Wasn’t he awarded “Asia-Pacific’s Top Boxing Writer” last year? Yup. That’s Salven.
Back to Mr. Aldeguer, this we know about the man: He loves boxing. But what does he really care for? World-title belts? Top rankings? No, no. His top concern?
The good health of his boxers. “What’s money,” he said, “if you become blind? Or get brain-damaged? Or die?”
Boxing is a tough sport. It’s scary. Even deadly. Aldeguer knows this and he’s taken precautions.
“When our fighters spar, they use thicker gloves. In the States, they use gloves this thick—,” he gestured to a glove that’s several-inches thick. “Here... the gloves were so thin. At least now, during training, they’re thicker.”
Rest. That’s another word he used. Train hard, rest well. A good lesson for any sport.
Amonia? Fighters used to sniff the chemical in the middle of the fight to wake-up. Not anymore, said Aldeguer. “About 80 percent of brain damage cases were linked to amonia use. This was banned in international fights but not here. With my fighters, this is definitely banned.”
Aldeguer also spoke about money. “Here, it’s ginamos,” he said, “compared to the money in the US.” He nodded to Michael Domingo and reminded him of his boxing earnings years before: P400 after one fight. Sad. Very sad. In the States, Aldeguer added, it’s not only dollars, it’s tens of thousands of dollars. Why did he partner with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions? To give his boxers a chance. An opportunity to pocket dollars instead of munching on ginamos.
Of all the qualities you can say of Bidoy Aldeguer, two traits, in my mind, stand-out the most.
One, he’s a master motivator. He jokes with his boxers, pats them on the back, scolds them if needed, praises them. He understands. Each. One. He knows their hunger, their character, what ticks inside that brain, what pumps inside that heart—and he guides them like a father would his sons.
Two, he’s generous. Take Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista. In one recent fight, Bautista was to earn $10,000 in prize money. On top of that, he’d earn another $10,000 for the TV rights. Total both and that’s over a million pesos. Now. In any sport, including boxing, the manager gets a cut, right? Sometimes 20 percent, at times as bleeding as 50 percent. Aldeguer’s share? Zero.
“Yeah, yeah... but he’s well-to-do... so he can do that,” you’d answer. True. He’s a Cebuano success story in business. But his reasons for giving Bautista—and all his boxers—all that he can give are answered in two words: He’s generous. He has a kind heart. He’s had a kind heart for decades.
