Saturday, November 17, 2007 Quijano: It’s the boxer, not the belt By Jingo Quijano Last Round
ACCOUNTS differ, but some observers insist that the following conversation actually took place during the recent World Boxing Council (WBC) convention in Manila:
WBC PRESIDENT JOSE SULAIMAN: Manny, don’t fight only for money. Fight for a belt, and earn your place in history.
MANNY PACQUIAO: You know, I’ll have to think about it.
SULAIMAN: Of course, after you become champion, you will have to fight your mandatories- no matter how undeserving they may be- otherwise, we might be forced to strip you of the title.”
MANNY: Pag sure uy!
TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’. For years, Filipino boxers have fought and toiled in obscurity-sometimes unfairly denied opportunities to fight for world titles because they were allegedly unmarketable commodities in the boxing world.
And so obsequious managers were left with no choice but to tow the line for their fighter and undergo the rites of passage. Win fights, look impressive, move up the rankings and hope you get lucky. Victims of sanctioning body politics.
Alphabet bodies were mushrooming all over. IBF. WBO. NBA. WBF. NBA.IBO. IBA et al… Champions became a dime-a-dozen.
But then a curious thing happened. Boxers and fans alike began to realize how meaningless some of these title fights have become.
People clamored for good match-ups, exciting fights between the best, and they didn’t give a damn if it was for this belt or that. Such a mindset gave way to an impressive ilk of boxers who became pay-per-view draws regardless of whether or not they fought for titles, such as Oscar de la Hoya and Mike Tyson.
Of course, it goes without saying that these guys also held belts and were champions at one time or another. But they already paid their dues, and so they were able to transcend the system.
When these fighters were involved, the belts themselves ceased to become the attraction. It became the fighter, not the title. Whether Oscar or Mike was wearing an IBF or WBC belt didn’t really matter that much. Fans came to watch hoping for a good show and they got it. These fighters became boxing’s megastars.
HOLLOW. Not to denigrate the WBC which is arguably one of the most prestigious of the sanctioning bodies, but Sulaiman’s words ring hollow in light of the fact that Manny Pacquiao is the first Filipino to have reached a stature reserved for only the most revered of all boxers.
Manny is widely considered among the top pound for pound boxers in the world. He is a major pay-per- view player. He has already won the WBC flyweight title and the IBF junior featherweight belt. He’s been there. Done that. His recent victories over Barrera and Morales were not world title fights, but they did not diminish his standing as one of boxing’s elite fighters.
HISTORY LESSONS. Does a title secure for a boxer a place in boxing history? Probably. But more often than not, people forget the belt he was wearing, but never the fighter and how he comported himself inside the ring.
Sugar Ray Leonard is one of the greatest boxers of all time. But how many of you remember or actually care that he won the WBC middleweight title in April 6, 1987. Or that in one fateful night in Nov. 7, 1988, he won both the WBC light heavyweight and super middleweight crowns? Fight purists maybe. Me? I had a working knowledge, but just to be sure, I had to look it up.
While some of us prefer that Manny wins another world title at this point in his career-decades from now, when we regale the next generation of stories about our boxing heroes- we won’t be telling them that Manny Pacquiao became a legend by wining an alphabet title. But rather how he fought and beat the best fighters of his era. So Manny, fight for a belt if you want to, not because you have to.
LAST ROUND. It’s on Atty. Renelda Chanco-Quijano, the best sister-in-law a guy could ask for. A wonderful mother, caring wife and top-notch lawyer. Cheers!
