It?s not politically correct. It?s a topic no one wants to put out there. But let?s stop the whispering and say it now.
Try as he might, David Diaz is not considered 100 percent Mexican. He?s a Mexican who grew up and lives in Chicago. He speaks English first in public, Spanish second.
His own people, at least those who stayed in their homeland, call him a ?pocho,? a slur word which literally means rotten fruit.
Years ago, I had trouble figuring out why the Mexican Mexicans do not accept their hyphenated brothers, particularly in boxing.
One of my favorite fighters, King Carlos Palomino, had this problem. When he had wars with Mando Muniz and other ?more Mexican? boxers, the crowds cheered the opponent and booed him.
Yet Palomino was born in Tijuana, came to California when he was a little kid and even went to college. He is a great American immigrant success story but it didn?t matter to the Mando Muniz fans. (Btw, when Palomino and Muniz battled for a world title, it was an historic match between two college graduates.)
In a weird way, many Mexicanos viewed Palomino as a Tio Tomas who had turned his back on being ?a real Mexican,? whatever that means. I understand that Oscar de la Hoya writes about his pain in the same situation in his new bio, ?American Son.? It?s as if waving the red, white and blue makes you less acceptable to carry the red, white and green bandera de Mexico.
I?ve heard comments and seen situations in which some Mexicans said Fernando Vargas was a real Mexican while Oscar was a mock Mexican.
The whole thing is a subject better fit for a psychiatrist. Since I don?t have a shrink on speed dial, I decided to speak with an expert on this matter, former Olympic Auditorium matchmaker supreme Don ?War A Week? Chargin.
?Oh, it?s true,? the Golden Boy senior adviser said by phone from his coastal California estate where he and spouse, Lorraine, have their own wine vineyard.
?Our biggest fights at the Olympic were always with main events matching a Mexican from Mexico against a Mexican-American. The people in Mexico called the others ?pochos? and said they had left their own country for an easy life. These Mexican fans would buy tickets, come up from Tijuana and elsewhere to see the Mexican American hopefully get beat. So, if you had Mando Ramos or Palomino fighting a Mexican Mexican, you had a quick sellout.?
Chargin said the recently deceased ?Golden Boy? Art Aragon used to play on the ethnic tension.
?If someone came up to Aragon and started speaking Spanish, he?d say, ?Speak English, I don?t understand you.? Of course, he was fluent in Spanish. Aragon sold a lot of tickets to Mexicans who wanted to see him get beat. He beat a real Mexican hero, Enrique Bolanos, and many never forgot that.?
Chargin said he thinks de la Hoya?s cover boy looks alienated some Mexican fans.
?Lorraine and I were at ringside once and two Mexican couples were sitting behind us. The women cheered wildly for Oscar while the men booed him. I guess they felt he was too handsome to be a real macho. After Oscar beat Julio Cesar Chavez, they booed him in a parade in East LA, where Oscar grew up. That?s not good.?
But, while Chicago will rock if Diaz upsets Manny Pacquiao, there were no big celebration in Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City or elsewhere south of the border.
It?s ethnic idiocy, I know. But David Diaz is not viewed as a ?real Mexican.?
He?s a pocho through and through.
Now let?s how Pacman poachos his huevos.
