Manny Pacquiao and Gabriel “Flash” Elorde are without a shadow of a doubt the greatest Filipino boxers of all time. Quite a lofty position when you consider Ceferino Garcia, Pancho Villa (the Asian version), Ben Villaflor, Frank Cedeno and many, many other great champions are in that list too. The Philippines, a great fountain of boxers, has had its share of other good fighters who were not as great but who were probably compared to these boxers and others like Luisito Espinosa. I can only imagine how many times Garcia, Villa and Elorde have turned in their graves whenever “the next (…)” failed to accomplish the high accolades expected of them.
Well, with Pacquiao maybe running on the later stages of his career, and Brian Viloria seemingly on his way down, Filipino fans have been looking for the star that will lead the future of that great Asian nation. The popular pick seems to be a kid from Candijay city, Bohol Island, a 20 year old who holds the double pressure not only of being considered the next Manny Pacquiao, but also even the next “Boom Boom” Rey (as in Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini) superstar. His name? Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista.
In order to study his chances, we have to go back to the times of the colonial Spanish era. The Spanish, of Aryan and-to the country’s south-Arabian ancestry, conquered not only all of Latin America, the Florida and part of what is currently the Southwestern United States, but they also conquered Guinea Ecuatorial, the only Spanish speaking country in Africa, and the Philippines, named after Felipe the second of Spain. How Spain has not become a boxing powerhouse around the world, as I explained on an article I did a long time ago, beats me, but the fact is that places where Spanish blood was mixed with Indian blood, like Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, have been boxing world champion factories, much in the way that other Aryan Europeans, African and the ethnically mixed African-American races have also been. And if you look at boxing history, when the British lost Lennox Lewis, they already had Ricky Hatton coming off the factory line, the Mexicans had Carlos Zarate after Ruben Olivares and the African-Americans Marvin Hagler after Muhammad Ali. So then, is Rey Bautista next in the Filipino boxing factory line?
On Sunday, January 22, 1984, I sat in front of our television set with my father, grandfather and even my then three month old sister Nilda to watch “the next Aaron Pryor”, Johnny Bumphus, then 21-0, 16 KO’s, take on Lorenzo Garcia for Pryor’s WBA Junior Welterweight crown, which “The Hawk” vacated for a short retirement. As a Puerto Rican, my Spanish background kind of wanted the Argentine to pull an upset but I knew that Bumphus was going to win because “Bump City” was a highly crafted, hard punching young man with a golden smile, which also spelled commercial success. Me and the rest of the world, however, came to know soon enough that Bumphus was no Pryor as he was dropped in round four and subsequently hung on for a clear cut, but arduously fought for, unanimous fifteen round decision. Months later, “the next Larry Holmes”, Tim Witherspoon, annexed the WBC Heavyweight Title with a terribly boring twelve round decision over Greg Page. Both Bumphus and Witherspoon lost their belts in their first title defenses and I learned there are usually no “next,” but “first.”
Another thing to keep in mind is that, barring The Godfather, Star Wars and Grease, even Grease 2 is considered a classic by yours truly-sequels usually end up disappointing us. Julian Lennon was a one hit wonder to his father John’s legendary status as one of rock’s sacrilegious figures, just as Kelly Osbourne was to Ozzy’s wild, hit filled career. People whose products are exposed to the pressures of being better than a previous product often fall prey to that pressure. Will this be Ray Bautista’s case?
Bautista is set to fight Daniel Ponce De Leon for the WBO Super Bantamweight Title on August 11 in Sacramento, California. Ponce De Leon is 31-0 and would have probably been one of the superstars of California had he been a 1970’s fighter. He is that good. Bautista, meanwhile, has been in with a mixed bag of talents, some boxers better than others in his list of rivals. He has, however, looked impressive against all of them, including his last outing, where he put on a show against Sergio Medina, on a HBO Pay Per View televised fight on the night Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, JR., treated us to a combination of the Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward trilogies and Dancing With The Stars.
With Filipino hearts’ hopes bestowed upon Bautista, it will soon be time to see whether the new “Boom Boom” Rey, which is pronounced just like Ray, will fill in the bill as the next great world Champion from the Philippines. He may or may not be the next Manny Pacquiao, Flash Elorde or anyone else. One thing I can guarantee you no matter what, is he will be the first Rey Bautista, and that will be good enough to make even Ceferino Garcia, Elorde and Pancho Villa turn around in their graves again, because they, like everyone else, will want to see Bautista’s fights.
