We all watch boxing. On TV. Who hasn’t? Years back, it was “Iron Mike” Tyson who bit, chewed and spat out Evander Holyfield’s ear. Last Jan. 21, we all sat on our favorite sofas or lined up at the SM Cinema gates (at 6 a.m.!) to watch Pacman. You did. I did. Everyone watched boxing. On TV.
How about “live?”
If I gather a group of 127 Cebuanos and ask, “How many of you have seen boxing… live?” I’d probably get a 15 or 20 percent “Yes” grade. Well, here’s a tip: Before you turn 92-years-old and walk on a pair of wheels, watch boxing. Not on TV. Not on your sofa set. But “live.” In the flesh. Standing up and pumping your fist.
Last Saturday night, with my dad, I trooped to the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex. “A Dream Come True” screamed the billboard. “A Dream Come True?” Was it a Broadway musical? Yes. it was. That’s if you believe what writer Jack Handy once wrote: “To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography and the dancers hit each other.”
GODFATHER. Z Gorres slugged it out with Waengpetch Chuwatana from Thailand. Z is a superstar in the making. Not a Manny Pacquiao or Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista. Not yet. He’s one of the ALA Boys. ALA, of course, is the acronym for “The Best Thing To Have Happened To Cebu Sports.” Spelled in full, it’s Antonio Lopez Aldeguer. You know him. From Gerry Pe?alosa to Edito Villamor to Randy Suico to Boom-Boom and Z (Don’t those last two names sound hip and cool?), ALA is the boxing Godfather.
Back to “live” boxing, you’ve got to go and watch. Why? First, you’ll never realize how tough boxing is. As British boxing enthusiast Hugh Cecil Lowther once remarked, “I have always considered that boxing really combines all the finest and highest inclinations of a man-activity, endurance, science, temper and presence of mind.”
In one of the preliminary fights last Saturday, ALA boy AJ Banal scored a knockout win over Dechapol Bankluaygym. He unleashed a wicked left to the stomach that flattened the Thai boxer. Time elapsed? First round, 49 seconds.
How long did Bankluaygym take to rise? He didn’t. He was unconscious. For minutes, he stood horizontal. On the canvas, doctors surrounded him and attached an oxygen mask. After no sign of awakening, he was transferred to the stretcher and passed hundreds of spectators on the way to the coliseum exit. What happened to him? I don’t know. Reports later read: “He was declared in stable condition.” Thank God.
On TV, you’d have seen a 49-second fight. In Mandaue, with thousands of others screaming, we saw a 49-second fight plus an eight-minute sight of an unconscious boxer. It was drama. It was scary. As John Conteh, a British light-heavyweight boxer once said, “When I go into a ring, I never know for certain that I’m coming back.” Scary.
Blood. Yes, blood. That’s one thing you don’t see on TV.
Of course you see blood on TV! But can you smell it? See it drip? Tick-tick-tick. Watch it shower the ring?
In the fight of Boholano Glenn Masicampo against Nori Iwatani, blood gushed out of the Japanese’s right eye. Three times he was examined by a physician; three times he raised his arms eager to fight. And so the show went on. And so did the gush of blood. On and on, show and blood. Frank Bruno was correct: “Boxing is just show business with blood.”
Another big plus of watching “live?” The break between rounds is one minute. Yup, sixty seconds. If you watched Pacquiao-Morales on ABS-CBN, the break was one hour. Yup, 60 minutes! (Just kidding.) But didn’t it feel that long watching KFC and No Fear and Smart and Burlington sell you all that chicken and socks?
Finally, do you know when the loudest applause is shouted? It’s not in the first or 12th round or during a KO. It’s when the girls come out.
Girls? Boxing?
No misprint there: When the girls come out. Ahh, the round girls! Last Saturday, two women alternated holding up high the round card. Each was tall, with long black curly hair, as slim as Paris Hilton. The first wore a pair of maong short-shorts, while the other, a maong mini-skirt that revealed her… never mind.
Ever see this on TV?
