Sunday, July 06, 2008 Quijano: Guarded optimism By Jingo Quijano Last Round
AT THE press conference for AJ Banal’s upcoming fight held last Friday at the Chikaan Restaurant, the guys at ALA Promotions unveiled to the assembled media some choice clips of Banal’s opponent, Panamanian Rafael Concepcion.
I had initially thought the fight would be a walk-in-the-park for the talented “Bazooka” but after seeing Concepcion bamboozle his opponent with huge crosses and hooks in those clips, I would have to temper by bullish positivism to guarded optimism.
Sure, a guy with only 10 wins and 2 losses with 6 kayoes can sound inept but in the same breath, he can just as well be boxing’s best well-kept secret. But of course, we all know what AJ Banal can do.
That being said, I’m still confident that we will have another Filipino world champion come July 26.
So if I were you, stop fidgeting about whether you are going to watch the fight or not. It’s the WBA world championship, people. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.
EFFLUVIA. Veteran referee Joe Cortez really dropped the ball this time. It was pure and simple, a bad acting job and he fell for it.
Moments prior, Francisco Lorenzo was sitting on the canvas with his legs out, complaining from a blow to the back of the head—apparently too hurt to get up.
But right after he was declared the winner via disqualification, there he was holding his arms up, miraculously healed and prancing around like a popinjay.
The replays indeed showed that Humberto Soto landed a glancing blow to the back of Lorenzo’s head while he was down, but by that time, the damage had been done as Lorenzo fell on the canvas, a beaten fighter.
Lorenzo should be ashamed of himself. While he was sitting there for a few minutes with blood streaming down his face, I half expected him to roll into the VIP section and ask for a massage. (Afterwards, the WBC chose not to award the WBC featherweight belt due to the controversy).
Antonio L. Aldeguer placed it so succinctly when he opined that Cortez should have considered the fight in its entirety and not nit pick over one harmless infraction.
The blow was inconsequential and hardly affected the outcome of the fight. The rule that a fighter who cannot continue by virtue of an illegal blow should be disqualified, finds no application here.
Nonetheless, if we were to consider this fight in the grand scheme of things, Cortez’ snafu highlights the need for boxing to institute changes such as the utilization of modern technology.
By that, I am of course referring to what the NFL and the NBA resort to in case of controversial or contested calls—instant replays on television monitors.
If the NBA refs can halt the game for a few seconds to determine whether or not Ray Allen’s feet was within a shadow of the rainbow territory, then I don’t see why the hell not a boxing referee should be allowed to consult the monitors to determine whether or not a fighter’s glove touched the canvas or whether a blow landed below the belt.
During the post fight interview, Cortez invoked his vast experience of refereeing more than a hundred championship fights (and he was right to do so), but as experienced a referee as Cortez is, he can only rely on the foibles of an instinctive judgment call.
The bottom line is that not even all the experience, intuition and boxing knowledge in the world can be a match for hard, concrete and irrefutable evidence.
I rest my case.
SHOUTOUTS. The Last Round thanks Cely Osumo and Carlo Borromeo of the Marco Polo Hotel for hosting our unimpeded view of the Pacquiao-Diaz fight last week.
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on little cherub Amor Villamor who makes doting parents Stephen and Ana Villamor smile wider than Butterbean’s waist. Happy Birthday and Cheers!
