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Remembering PH Boxing's Unsung Heroes Special Sports Series (Second of Five Parts) By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Tue, 31 Mar 2020  Ric Magramo. They never won world boxing championships, some even did not get the chance to fight for one. But during their prime, they were our pambato, our best bet in their respective divisions who carried with them our hopes for international glory in the square arena of professional boxing. They more than held our fort here in Asia but also served as the spearheads or the lead scouts for soon-to-come invasion by future Filipino boxing superstars of the global scene. They failed and fell but their gallant and magnificent fall only served to stoke further the passion of their countrymen for boxing and fortified the resolve of future Pinoy ring campaigners to do even better and eventually to succeed beyond our wildest dreams. Theirs were the stories that personified the Filipino courage, determination and resilience in the face of great odds. Indeed, alas, many of them emerged at times when the reigning world champions ---like now legends Pascual Perez and Eder Joffre--- were seemingly invincible. And as they ventured away from native shores to establish themselves and hopefully, get a deserved crack at the world crown, they most often fell to that scourge called hometown decision. Complicating matters even further, at times they have to fight other top Pinoy campaigners to determine who was the better local bet. In time, they just fade away. To give way to the new generations of Pinoy boxers who will eventually complete what they failed to achieve at the height of their careers. In this issue, we will try to relive and recapture the gallant saga of five Pinoy boxers – Tirso del Rosario, Dommy Ursua, Leo Espinosa, Johnny Jamito and Ric Magramo-who in my books, are our other boxing heroes, our unsung heroes. RIC MAGRAMO (Note: A third generation from the famed Magramo clan, Geimel is supposed to fight for the vacant WBO world flyweight championship in Japan against Junto Nakatani this Saturday, April 4, 2020. But with the current covid pandemic, this is not certain to happen as scheduled or any time soon. With that, I have decided to rehash a past article I have written about his grandfather and the original Magramo fighting clan pioneer and acknowledged patriarch, Ric Magramo who was a favorite of mine growing up in the 60s. Ric never won a world title, not even the Oriental title in his time but he was our best flyweight bet for most of the 60s and hence, one of our boxing unsung heroes.) FROM the time Francisco Guilledo better known as Pancho Villa won the Philippines and Asia's first world championship in professional boxing in the flyweight division in the early 1920s via a stunning 8th round knockout of the UK's Mighty Atom Jimmy Wilde, Filipino fighters have captured a world title in the 112 lbs. class in almost every decade that followed. After Villa, Small Montana (Benjamin Gan) and Little Dado (Diosdado Posadas) won recognition as world flyweight champion in the 1930s and 40s. Fil-American Dado Marino who was born and raised in Hawaii of pure Filipino bloodline won recognition as world flyweight titlist in the early 50s. But from mid 50s until the later part of the 1960s, prospects for world title became too difficult for Filipino flyweight campaigners. In the mid 50s, the best Filipino flyweight bets Leo Espinosa, Dommy Ursua, Danny Kid and the already aging Tanny Campo proved less of a match to a succession of world champions in the division, namely Yoshio Shirai, Japan's first world champion who wrested the crown from Marino, Argentina's Pascual Perez who defeated Shirai and Thailand's Pone Kingpetch who won the title from Perez. The early to mid 60s saw the emergence of such outstanding flyweights as Italy's Salvatore Burruni, UK's Walter McGowan, Argentina's Horacio Accavallo, Thailand's Chartchai Choinoi and Japan's deadly duo of Fighting Harada and Hiroyuki Ebihara who would ascend one after the other to the world flyweight throne. Meanwhile Ursua, Danny Kid and Espinosa further aged and faded into retirement leaving the crusade to a slew of up and coming flyweight campaigners. That batch included fighters as Baby Lorona, Leo Zulueta, Bernabe Villacampo, Erbito Salavarria and Ric Magramo who would wage war for domestic supremacy. Though he would not be able to win the Oriental title and break into the elite world rankings, Ric Magramo would prove to be the strongest Filipino flyweight bet for most of the 1960s. Though he would just win the Philippine national title while failing in two tries at the Oriental crown, Magramo was widely seen as a match and a threat to any of the world titleholders at the time if only given ranking and a shot at the world championship. Indeed, Magramo would be the gauge or yardstick with which local fighters harboring ambitions to conquer the Orient and ultimately the world would be measured. Any local fighter bidding to go big time internationally had to pass through his gauntlet. And how he tested such campaigners as Villacampo and Salavarria who both would go on to end the country's world title drought as the 60s drew to a close. Magramo would fight Villacampo three times, winning two, one by TKO and losing just one on points. He and Salavarria would split their four gripping duels for the Philippine championship but he would lose decisively the last one thereby propelling Erbito to the Orient and eventually world titles. By virtue of that, Magramo can be considered as the one under whose "apprenticeship" Villacampo and Salavarria, among others, became world champions. Born in Roxas, Mindoro, Magramo would start his fistic career characteristic of how he proceeded in all his fights, whether winning or losing--like a house on fire or a jurementado going berserk. He would chalk up 19 straight victories, 11 via the short route between his pro debut on August 13, 1961 and February 20, 1963 beating foes including Dio and Leo Espinosa, Thai Katchomsak Lupiganit and Japanese Rikki Tanaka. A first loss to Pat Gonzales and draws with Baby Lorona and Tom Rico would temporarily stall his streak before he resumed his winning ways with points wins over Villacampo and veteran Primo Famiro. Barely two weeks after the Famiro fight, Magramo flew all the way to Paisley, UK where he met and lost on points to future world champion Walter McGowan on November 28, 1963. McGowan would afterwards win the WBC title over Salvatore Burruni but lose it late in 1966 to Chartchai Chionoi via TKO on cuts. Magramo rebounded from the McGowan loss by defeating Japanese Fumio Takakura on points in December 1963 in a tuneup for his challenge of Oriental champion Tsuyoshi Nakamura who had won the title by defeating future world champion Chionoi of Thailand. Magramo met Nakamura for the Orient title on January 6, 1964 in Tokyo but he dropped a points decision. Barely a month later, Magramo traveled to Villacampo's home region of Cebu and suffered his only loss to Bernabe in their grueling five fight series. After bouncing back with a 5th round TKO of Mexican Manuel Magallane in Hawaii in April 1964, he would again go on a slump, losing three of fights, all in Japan, all on points to Japanese opponents that included another future world champion Hiroyuki Ebihara, between May and September 1964. Magramo would win his next three fights between December 1964 and May 1965 including a decision over Baby Lorona for the Philippine flyweight crown and a title defense over Famiro sandwiched by a repeat points win over Takakura in Tokyo. Pursuing another go at the Oriental title, he met Nakamura again in June 1965 and lost another close decision in Japan. Two months later, world rated Kiyoshi Tanabe made it two in a row for Japan over Magramo via points decision. Again, Magramo would rebound with wins over Speedy Hayashe, Greg Rimarim and the difficult Al Diaz who held earlier win over Salavarria. But he would be stalled again in Thailand by a draw with Tongchai Supasamuth and the first of his just two career knockout losses to Thai champion Puntip Kaosuriya in June 1966. He would stage yet another comeback, knocking out Villacampo in their third and final fight on October 1, 1966 and then outpoint Salavarria in the first of their four fights for the Philippine championship in November 1966. Magramo and Salavarria would split two more closely fought meetings in the succeeding few months, passing the national title between them in the process. Magramo, in between retaining, losing and regaining the title continued to persevere and even took another stab at Nakamura for the Oriental title, nearly finally winning it if not for a controversial draw. He would eventually lose the Philippine championship for keeps to Salavarria who proceeded to pound out a decisive unanimous decision victory in September 1968. The momentum of victory carried Salavarria to the Oriental and later WBC titles via knockout wins over Nakamura and Chionoi, respectively. Content at seeing Salavarria and Villacampo ascending to the world championships one after the other at the close of the 60s and start of the 70s, Magramo later retired from boxing after losing by knockout to young upcomer Cecil Escobido. He finished with a record of 35(15)-17(2)-5. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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