The excrement has hit the ventilator.
Pardon the play on words, but the situation in boxing has gotten unbearable in both amateur and professional boxing. First, the Philippine team gets wiped out of the second to the last Olympic qualifying event in Thailand, then Z Gorres gets the raw end of the deal in an IBF title eliminator in his own country.
2006 Asian Games veteran bantamweight Joan Tipon, after a remorseful comeback to the Philippine team, was outclassed in the finals, leaving the Philippine groping for form and being shut out of an Olympic qualifer for the first time in recent memory.
I hate to flog a dead horse, but this was exactly what this writer emphasized in reports from the AIBA World Championships in Chicago, Illinois last October. Our seven-man team arrived in the Windy City the day before the competition began, at the end of a long-drawn, exhausting fight. The first four boxers who saw action were obviously not acclimatized yet, and did not have a masseuse, nutritionist or sports psychiatrist with them, and were eliminated.
In an event of this size, and after years of frustration, you would think that they had been better prepared, considering that the Philippine Sports Commission shelled out P 1.5 million of our money to fund the trip, and the ABAP had just signed a huge sponsorship deal with Smart. Now that smarts.
Next, two of our boxers fought well, but were distracted by their shorts constantly falling off. In Silforbo Lopez?s second fight, the referee was so upset he took a roll of duct tape and fixed the problem himself. Lopez is a medium. His shorts were extra-large. What gives?
Naturally, Harry Ta?amor made it to the finals, and got a berth in Beijing, because he drew a bye in the first round, and had another two days to adjust. He may well end up fighting in Beijing alone, and all because of dumb luck of the draw. And, as a side note, the Philippine team had a dual meet with California boxers the day after Ta?amor?s final bout. Here?s the punchline: the fights were in San Francisco, at least six hours away by plane.
We also warned that Thailand would be hostile to our boxers in the next qualifier, and they were. We hadn?t even left for Thailand yet, and we were being disqualified. All of this really plays on the mind of boxers.
So now, we have one last chance, in the bitter cold of Kazakhstan, against boxers who are also desperate for Olympic berths. Funny, I sort of remember that, in Chicago, our target was getting four berths. What will we do for an encore?
Now, let?s look at the Darchinyan-Gorres IBF title eliminator. Replacement referee Lance Revill of New Zealand was obviously flustered by the rowdy partisan crowd at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu, and couldn?t keep his head. First he ruled a slip a knockdown against Gorres in the opening round. Naturally, the crowd didn?t take it well.
Revill then ignored the pushing and other bullying tactics by the Armenian-Australian veteran. In the sixth round, the former IBF and IBO world flyweight champion accidentally headbutted Gorres, opening a cut on his head. No point deduction was given Darchinyan.
It got so bad that Darchinyan?s manager Gary Shaw was incensed enough to propose that the referee ?should be banned from boxing for life.? It is quite uncommon for both sides to be this angered by the outcome of a fight.
It was a great opportunity for Gorres, the IBF intercontinental superflyweight champion to prove he is world-class. For the wily Darchinyan, who tasted his first defeat in his final bout as a flyweight and lost both his belts to Nonito Donaire Jr. last July, a consecutive loss to a Filipino would be too much to bear.
Thus, a rematch. Will they call it ?Now or Never 2??
