GRAPEVINE, TEXAS?Merlin The Magician had nothing on fight promoter Robert Arum.
Arum is a true master of illusion.
The Top Rank top honcho has been selling the Antonio Margarito-Manny Pacquiao bout, down the highway from here at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, as a nation verus nation ring war, Mexico versus historical boxing rival Philippines.
Margarito has been painted as disgraced (handwrap cheater) but still proud Mexican warrior who seeks redemption in this fight.
But, guess what? While Pacman is 110 percent Pinoy, Margarito is technically not a Mexican, certainly not what the vatos like to call ?a real Mexican.?
Yes, ?Margacheato? flies his red, green and white Mexican bandera on high, so proudly.
Yes, the merry music of the mariachis herald his ring walk.
But he could just as easily be called the ?Torrance Tornado? instead of his preferred ?Tijuana Tornado.?
Margarito was actually born in the USA, in Torrance, the Los Angeles suburb. His family went back to Mexico and, at age five, I guess he did not get to vote on the family matter.
(Funny aside, Luis Mesorana, Texas fight guy, reveals that Margarito’s last foe, a journeyman named Robert Garcia, is also billed as all Mexican, listing Reynosa as his home.
?But that Robert Garcia was actually born in Houston,? Mesorana said, laughing, ?so it gets kind og blurry.?
What can you expect from a ?PRI? (Puerto Rican Italian American) living in Corpus Christi?
But, technically and legally speaking, calling Pacman’s foe a Mexican is as wrong as if you call Manny a ?Fil-Am,? meaning someone of Filipino heritage who was born in or emigrated to America.
Me, I’m like Freddie and Pepper Roach, a hyphenated Irishman, not a fullfledged one, because my great grandparents left Eire during the terrible, killing time of the potato famine and came to Nova Scotia and to Boston.
That’s why we learned ?to always vote for the Kennedy of your choice.?
So you choose to call Margarito a Mexican, fine, no problem there. But know that Springsteen’s ?Born In The USA? could justifiably be played for his ring walk.
By contrast, my old friend and former welterweight champ King Carlos Palomino was shabbily treated by large groups of ?real Mexican? fight fans when he fought boxers they considered ?more Mexican? such as tough guy Armando Muniz.
Some resented Palomino speaking English so often in the media. Others resented his college degree.
The grittier fans did not view Palomino as an “ay, cabron” cantina drinking buddy type.
But Palomino was born in Tijuana, and worked there as a little boy shining shoes, before his family moved to the LA area.
You couldn’t be more ?real Mexican? than Palomino was but he got the brushoff from many and it was sad.
I guess there’s nobody who would say Pacquiao is not ?a real Filipino? but then so is world champ Nonito Donaire.
Donaire, who comes here Saturday to plug his Dec. 4 bout against Alfonso Gomez, is a ?real American? and a ?real Fil-Am? at the same time.
Maybe, as civilization progresses (?) someday we’ll just regard each others as human beings.
Maybe we all speak Esperanto and waive a universal flag.
You think?
