Sorry to be the spoiler to upset the fans of Manny Pacquiao & Co. but, I see where our Ayon Naranjo had no prayers from GMA going for him on Sunday in Yokohama. He is in a hospital for observation after Venezuelan Jorge Linares toyed with him.
Last Thursday the American boxer Leavander Johnson, 35, died in a hospital, 5 days after sustaining a severe brain injury.
The Filipino American Brian Viloria, raised in Hawaii by Ilocano parents from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, captured the World Boxing Council light flyweight crown 2 weeks ago with a sensational first-round knockout of defending champion Eric Ortiz of Mexico.
Remember, GMA said: “God heard my prayers that he win.” Yup, “my prayer,” to the god she prays to. The collective prayers of the rest of the nation to lesser gods helped too, I am sure.
Brian represented the United States in the 2000 Olympics. He grew up in Hawaii but, to our delight, said recently that he remains 100-percent Pinoy and would fight as such from here on. He is unbeaten in 18 fights with 12 KOs.
In his last fight in May, he forced Mexican Ruben Contreras, 32, to quit in the sixth round. Ruben had a seizure soon after. He needed surgery to stop a hemorrhage around his brain. He was in a coma but had improved considerably so that he could accept Brian’s invitation to attend the fight. He was at ringside and gave Brian a thumbs-up sign. Brian announced: “I dedicate this fight to Ruben Contreras,” who obliged and stood up to be recognized.
Has Ruben lived to fight another day? Please.
Leavander’s death last week has reignited the permanent debate over the safety of boxing which has been said to be “the manly art of modified murder.”
Two Saturday nights ago, in Leavander’s first defense of his International Boxing Federation lightweight title, which he won in June, the ref stopped the fight in the 11th round after Leavander took about two dozen shots to the head, among the 400-plus blows he got during the fight. He collapsed in his dressing room afterward, was in surgery about 40 minutes later, and is now another sorry statistic.
When we cheer our Mannys, Brians and Boom-Booms, we know the prayer of every Pinoy that the next fight does not transmogrify them into vegetables, if not worse. Indeed, we pray for them to destroy the other side.
Sugar Ray Robinson, asked if he had known Jimmy Doyle was in trouble, said, “Mister, my business is to get my foe in trouble.” The night before that fight in 1947, Sugar Ray had dreamt he killed an opponent. Shaken, he said he could not fight Jimmy. But, a Catholic priest pressed into service by the promoters told him his fears were baseless. He proceeded to knock out Jimmy with a left hook, the murder weapon in his dream the night before. Jimmy, like a gladiator saying, “I, who am about to die,” was carried out on a stretcher and died the next day.
No sport is risk-free of course. But, boxing may be the only one where the premeditated objective is to hurt a fellow human being, which could result in death even. Wrestling is not as bad. There is cockfighting, where the aim is to reduce the population of potential avian flu carriers. OK, the spider fights in our youth.
Where do you stand in this permanent debate in “the manly art of modified murder?”
