Before Pacquiao and Penalosa, there were Pancho Villa, Ceferino Garcia and Small Montana. This 1938 cartoon immortalizes that period
MANILA, Philippines – Long before Pacquiao, Penalosa, Espinosa and even Elorde, there was a group of Philippine boxing pioneers whose names have faded with time, but whose accomplishments remain forever buried in the sport?s history books.
If Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr and Brian Viloria were the leading lights of a renaissance of Philippine boxing, then Pancho Villa, Pete Sarmiento, Small Montana, Ceferino Garcia, Johnny Hill and Dencio Cabanela were part of the first wave of Pinoy boxers to make an impact on the world stage.
A cartoon from The Ring magazine?s December 1938 issue (sent to me by Daniel Attias of Boxing.com) immortalized their feats, with Villa being declared ?The greatest Filipino,? Garcia ?the hardest hitter,? Montana ?the cleverest boxer;? Sarmiento ?the roughest and toughest;? ?the most promising? Johnny Hill; and ?the most unfortunate? Dencio Cabanela.
Villa, the first Filipino boxer to win a world title, was the second Filipino to be named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame (going in as an ‘Old Timer’ a year after Flash Elorde in 1994). The Iloilo native fought pro for only 6 years but amassed an incredible record of 77-4-4 (22 knockouts) and made his mark on history by knocking out Jimmy Wilde in 1923 to win the flyweight title at the Polo Grounds in New York.
Who knows how long Villa could have reigned: He was only 23 years old when he died in 1925, the result of a tooth infection which spread. Villa also wasn’t shy about giving his countrymen a shot at the belt, decisioning Clever Sencio over 15 rounds at Wallace Field in Manila.
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Anyone who has walked into Salon de Ning at The Peninsula Manila will have seen the painting of Ceferino Garcia hanging in the boxing mini-room. Garcia, a rare Asian middleweight, earned a reputation as a heavy hitter with 74 knockouts 118 wins (against 30 losses and 14 draws).
Born in Tondo, Garcia won recognition as middleweight champion by the New York State Athletic Commission in 1939 with a knockout over Fred Apostoli in 1939, then fought Henry Armstrong, one of the greatest boxers to ever live, to a draw the following year.
Garcia’s Wikipedia page paints the picture of a tough street guy whose reputation preceded him: a first grade dropout, renowned street fighter/gambler and a “skilled blacksmith.” Garcia went on to have a few brief movie roles and retired in California.
