LOS ANGELES–The boxing world wants an answer to this pressing puzzle on the happy state of boxing in the Philippines.
How did Manny Pacquiao and at least three other reigning Filipino world boxing champions succeed and manage to punctuate national pride despite the aweful absence of a unified boxing development program in the country?
This, you bet, is more baffling than the sight of poor, wretched Pinoys, who live and labor half-covered from the searing tropical sun, winning gold medals in exclusive, freezing winter Olympic disciplines.
Sorry, but there is yet no available guide to the secret behind the current Filipino success in world boxing.
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Why? Because there’s also no recorded scientific system detailing how and why Pacquiao, et al, have hit the jackpot.
Of course, this is not enough for cynics, mainly from south of the border here, to claim that the blazing brilliance of Filipino boxers in foreign arenas was the result of a cheap, lucky punch, or something of the sort.
Never. But should it come as a surprise if, say, the WBC Convention, set to start Nov. 11 at the Manila Hotel, also involved a curious peek into the mystery surrounding Philippine boxing?
For example, is the Games and Amusements Board, under the Office of Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, going all out to invite the biggest names in world boxing–Ali, Frazier, Don King, De La Hoya, Tyson, etc.–to divert attention from government corruption, now again under the microscope due to the $329-million NBN deal with China, which got stalled and stunk under the table?
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As was often the case, the annual WBC is sure to deteriorate into a forgettable get-together among the greatest back-slappers (ego-trippers) in the prizefight world.
But, come to think of it, did they have to look far for someone to save the WBC Convention from total irrelevance?
Not anymore. Smiling, if not burping, at the corner is Don Jose Sulaiman, the pudgy, unsinkable old ship of a WBC president who was last sighted in Manila in 1996.
Like a returning pontiff, the doe-eyed Don Jose could yawn and, in the process, promptly bestow distinguished approval on the opulent WBC gathering.
Of course, this time, Sulaiman must make sure he brings with him the blueprint of a boxing development program which he generously detailed in another convention in Bangkok in the mid-’90s (was it 1994?), when the WBC honored the late Papa Sarreal, international match-maker non-pareil, with a lifetime achievement award.
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Anyway, in case Sulaiman would wonder, he must be told, that Pacquiao was not in any way a product of the hero factory he had proposed to an international audience in that Bangkok confab.
For the record, Pacquiao has made it on his own. He left the Philippines, wiggled out of a primitive boxing mould (if there’s at least one), and enrolled at the Wild Card gym courtesy of Rod Nazario, his surrogate father.
It’s history how the Pacman, truly raw, blossomed and blazed into a full-scale boxing treasure, no mere gem, under Roach.
To confirm the utter need for a scientific national boxing program, Roach would recommend that a national boxing academy be set up in the Philippines, preferrably in Manila.
However, the government of President Arroyo would not hear anything of the nonsense.
Odd enough, Pacquiao went on the become an Arroyo favorite, whose victories were wildly celebrated at the Palace, in a clear bid to inject verve and vitamin to the President’s sagged ratings.
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Listen again, please. The Sulaiman formula had looked plain enough. Put up a foundation, construct or use an available gymnasium–similar to the one, he said, they had set up in Mexico, provide this with necessary personnel, equipment, facilities–trainers, doctors, psychologists, fight films, lecturers, everything.
Then open the venue to the public, mainly poor, out-of-school kids, who could bid for a decent life only by entering the cruel world of boxing.
Needless to say, there should be strict screening, monitoring–meaning not every other hungry, homeless bum could walk in.
The way Don Jose had pictured the poor man’s boxing academy, it must’ve churned off breed after breed of enviable Mexican ring warriors equipped with sound fighting basics.
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A hero factory, indeed. But hold it, please.
In order for Don Jose to endure as the perfect saviour of the forthcoming WBC Convention, he must at the same time extract a commitment from the Philippine government that it would copy the tested formula.
Sulaiman could do the bargaining during an expected audience at Malaca&tnilde;ang.
Or he could also ask the great Manny Pacquiao to set up a foundation to fund such an academy, with the help of sponsors.
Here’s hoping Se&tnilde;or Sulaiman is listening.
After all, this is the only safe way he could save the 45th WBC Convention from blending ahead with the famous Manila sunset.
