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Philippines, 30 Sep 2025 |
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Boxing Ephemera, Pacquiao’s Mouthguard, and the Meaning of It All By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Tue, 30 Sep 2025  A Journey Through Keepsakes From Thrilla in Manila to The Fight of the Century What’s the point of an autograph, really? On the surface it’s just ink—somebody’s name scrawled on a ticket, a program, maybe the back of a fight stub. But if you’ve ever stood in line, waiting, heart beating a little too fast as the pen slid across paper, you know it feels like more. For that blink of a second, you’re close enough to brush against greatness. I’ve got a few myself, signed by my favorite fighters. Each one carries its own special story—at least to me. But over time I’ve come to see that autographs are only one piece of a larger puzzle. The real story lives in boxing ephemera: programs, clippings, gloves, even a mouthguard. Odd little things that outlast the final bell and keep the memory breathing. 
My father, Hermie Rivera, spent over fifty years as a journalist. Chasing autographs wasn’t his thing. He went to fights to write, to report, to be a witness. And often enough, his vivid accounts themselves turned into keepsakes. At the Thrilla in Manila in 1975, he served as emcee at one of the press conferences. The Greatest— Muhammad Ali— never one to let the spotlight wander, waved him aside with a grin: “Hermie, you’re not as dumb as you look.” The press corps broke into laughter. Writers and his friends like Recah Trinidad, Nick Joaquin, even Smokin’ Joe Cantada later slipped the moment into print and verse. My father? To him it was nothing more than another day on the job. 
File Photo: From the Collection of the Philippine Boxing Historical Society and Hall of Fame A few days after the fight—the most brutal and spectacular battle ever fought in the ring—he saw Ali again. A photographer handed him a picture: Ali holding a child, the crowd pressing close. And there in the front corner stood my father—the only one smiling. Ali, The Greatest, signed it. That small act turned the photo into the crown jewel of our family’s collection. He had stacks of photos through the years, but this one shines because my late mother, Cristina Pasaoa Rivera, tucked it away safely. Last year at the Gala of Champions, my sister, Charina Rivera, placed it in my hands. Finding it again—well, it felt like stumbling onto a hidden treasure. What could have been lost forever became a thread tying Ali’s inscription, my father’s grin, and my family’s care in keeping memory alive. 
(L-R) Don King, Don Dunphy, Hermie Rivera, October 1, 1975, Araneta Coliseum, Thrilla in Manila There were plenty of other keepsakes. Long before anybody said “selfie,” he had snapshots with Don King, with legendary ring broadcaster Don Dunphy. He introduced me to Joe Frazier at a training camp hotel. No photo of that—just my word. When it came to souvenirs, my father leaned toward the simple: press passes, fight programs, news clippings. To some they looked like clutter. To me they’re treasure chests. Every credential opens the door to a night when fists flew and history got written under bright lights. That’s the magic of ephemera. It isn’t meant to sit in drawers forever. It’s meant to be viewed, remembered. Jim Croce said it best in his classic tune Photographs and Memories. A bent program, a faded clipping, a ticket stub with a smudge of ink—each one hums like a verse of a song. 
And then there’s the masterpiece I never saw coming. Dr. Ed dela Vega, Pacquiao’s dentist, friend to many (which is an understatement), and humanitarian placed in my hands something remarkable: the official backup mouthguard he made for Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao before the “Fight of the Century” with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, May 2, 2015. It’s crafted in Pacquiao’s colors, shaped by his bite. It was never used in the bout, but it waited in the corner that night, ready if needed. It is Pacquiao’s mouthpiece—saliva and all. We at the Philippine Boxing Historical Society and Hall of Fame hope to one day witness the reunion of the great Manny Pacquiao and Dr. Ed Dela Vega at one of our future Gala of Champions. 
(L-R) Dr. Ed Dela Vega fitting Emmanuel Pacquiao, Sr. (before the Pacquiao- Barrios fight, July 2025). Photo courtesy of Dr. Ed Dela Vega. Strange as it sounds, it feels more personal than any autograph. Posters fade, ink smears, but a mouthguard belongs to no one but the fighter. Some people will laugh at holding on to something like that. But that’s the paradox of collecting. The most meaningful pieces are usually the plain ones: a note folded in a drawer, a glove stiff with dried blood and sweat, a mouthguard still marked by teeth. Each one holds memory. Or maybe it holds us. Today, the language of keepsakes has shifted. My father’s generation leaned toward scrapbooks, clippings, magazines, with autographs sprinkled in from the 1950s through the nineties. My obsession has leaned toward gloves, programs, books—and now, even a mouthguard. Fans today lift their phones, lean in, and snap a selfie. Faster, flashier, instantly shared. But the impulse hasn’t really changed. Whether ink on a program, sweat on a glove, blood on trunks, or pixels in the cloud—we’re all reaching for the same thing: proof that we stood near the presence of greatness, even if just for a moment. 
And here’s the part that hits home: my father was there too, covering that night as a reporter. Pacquiao and Mayweather in the ring, my father at ringside, Dr. Ed in the corner, and myself now the keeper of the mouthguard—it feels like all those threads tied themselves into one story. In the end I hear my father’s words: We are only custodians of memories. Share it. And that thought pulls everything together—Boxiana, Mr. Fiske’s archives, Ali’s photo, the Levinson gloves, Pacquiao’s mouthguard, even today’s selfies. None of it is truly ours. We keep these things for a while, then pass them on. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Emmanuel Rivera, RRT.  |
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