BEIJING ? Harry Ta?amor could not find the words to describe how he felt. He just cried ? and that said it all.
Minutes after he lost a one-sided encounter against an African champion whom his handlers had practically dismissed as a nobody, Ta?amor was wiping away tears, shaking his head, looking at the floor and could not fathom what had happened.
“Wala akong puntos kahit sa tingin ko tumama ako,” he said, his Olympic Games medal bid in tatters and his future uncertain.
Defeated boxers always say that. But sad to say, Ta?amor was simply outfought and outfoxed by an intelligent boxer who came into the ring with a strategy and followed it to the letter.
Ghana?s Manyo Plange gave Ta?amor a lesson in boxing and Filipino officials a lesson in preparation as he worked around a defense that left the Filipino medal hope and his coach perplexed and dumbfounded.
Part of it came from Plange?s lack of credentials. He was such a no-name, not one bothered to look for a video of his previous fights thinking he would pose no problem.
“Today he under-rated me,” Plange said. “He didn?t think I could win the fight.”
He also said that Tanamor had no clue on how he fights.
“He didn?t know me but I know him, that?s why I won,” he said.
The loss was a bitter blow to the Philippine campaign in the Olympic Games here which had Tanamor as one of just three medal hopes out of 15 Filipino athletes.
So sports officials came out in droves, urging him on, cheering his every move. In the end, there was only stunned silence. No one, except his coach, was at the dressing room to console Harry, the weight of an expectant nation probably too much to bear.
Plange?s tactic was simple. He covered his face and body, waited for Tanamor and then sneaked in a punch or two and that was enough to carry the day.
It was not, so to speak, a fight to the death. It was more like a careful dance around the ring as both fighters appeared nervous and cautious.
But Plange appeared to have purpose and a plan while Tanamor looked keen on simply surviving.
Plange scored two points in the first round, three in the second and one more in the third. After that, he used his head and simply danced away the minutes of the fourth to pull off the surprise win and bring sadness to a nation.
“Madulas, magaling sa depensa,” said Tanamor?s coach Pat Gaspi, his smile strained, perspiration dripping profusely as though he himself had been in the ring.
While the score appears close, the reality was that Tanamor scored just two points from the second round onwards, the last one with about 20 seconds left and the fight already lost.
He could have earned victory with a knockout, but that seemed to be asking too much for a boxer who seemed to have lost his way and his focus.
“Ganun talaga,” explained Gaspi. “May araw na maganda laro, meron din na hindi.”
“He?s the African champion,” said Plange?s coach, “so it?s hard to underestimate him.”
The boxing team did, and it paid the price.
