Greetings from the Dominican Republic!
38 degrees, sunny and the Pac-Man is still the best fighter on the planet.
It was with great interest that about 60 of us diehards here at the Sosua Bay Resort Casino gathered to watch boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter as he defended his WBO welterweight title against former champion and hardcore contender, Joshua Clottey.
Gathered among the 60 or so who intensely watched the fight was ring legend, ‘Manos de Piedra’, Roberto Duran. As each round passed, Duran would stand up and say “you can’t win a fight if you don’t fight”. The statement was in reference to Clottey’s “tuck-up” defence and his reluctance, or more likely his inability, to mount any type of sustained attack against the ‘Filipino Tsunami’ that is Manny Paquiao. With a volume of punches not seen since the heyday of Aaron Pryor, Paquiao once again showed he is a tireless punching machine with legendary speed, power and stamina. The same trademarks which marked the careers of both Henry Armstrong and Aaron Pryor.
Let us be clear about one thing, Joshua Clottey is no bum! Joshua Clottey gave life and death to then welterweight great Antonio Margarito, before he became “Margacheato,” and came within a round of convincingly beating Miguel Cotto. Against Paquiao, Clottey barely looked better than a sparring partner. In control from round one, Manny never let up as he unleashed at times six, seven and eight punch combinations against one of the top welterweights in the world as though he was working the heavy bag.
If there was any doubt, in anyone’s mind, including mine, that Paquiao could not beat Mayweather, those doubts were completely erased with last Saturday’s victory. As a matter of fact, Saturday’s win must now make Paquiao the betting favourite should the two ever meet. Over the last couple of years, Paquiao has demolished some of the biggest names and some of the best fighters in the sport. While Mayweather is certainly a thing of beauty to behold inside the ring, Paquiao has removed all doubts as to who is the best fighter on the planet, and he did it again in the most convincing fashion. If Mayweather was reluctant to face Paquiao before, the win over Clottey must now make Floyd even more disinclined.
OK! On to the fight card here in Sosua and the reason I am here working the pro fight card.
1. Jorge Gutierrez. Only true fight fans will remember the name of one of the greatest Cuban stars in amateur boxing history. World Junior Champion, World Amateur Champion and of course Olympic Gold Medallist in Sydney in 2000, Jorge Gutierrez was once the talk of the boxing world. Canadians, especially Manitobans, will surely remember his two appearances in this country when he boxed for Cuba at the Pan-Am Games test event in ’98 and the Pan-Am Games of ’99. Fresh out of the junior program, all who were present in Winnipeg will never forget this crushing, tall, southpaw with the deadpan look who captivated audiences whenever he fought. In the finals that year of the Pan-Am Games of ’99, Gutierrez faced Canadian Scott MacIntosh in a thrilling final. MacIntosh, a huge underdog going into the fight, shocked everyone by not only going the distance with the vaunted Cuban, but lost the bout by only one point. So courageous was MacIntosh’s performance that when the fight was over, legendary Cuban trainer Alcides Segarra vaulted up the steps to be the first to congratulate MacIntosh on his outstanding effort against a bona fide superstar. Gutierrez would then go on to capture gold in Sydney the next year. This past Friday, at the Sosua Bay Resort Casino in the Dominican Republic, almost 10 years removed from the last time he competed in a boxing ring, Jorge Gutierrez made his professional debut before a passionate, standing room only crowd live on ESPN Latino. Inside of one round, Gutierrez showed that while albeit heavy, he had not lost the surgical precision, nor the numbing power which had made him one of the most decorated stars in amateur boxing. It was an honour for me to have prepared him in the days leading up to the fight and to have worked his corner for this historic debut. Scott MacIntosh told me a couple of weeks earlier that fighting the great Gutierrez was a highlight of his career, I can also say that after 30 years in the business, working the Gutierrez corner, was a moment I will cherish forever as well.
2. While the Gutierrez fight was certainly a highlight in itself, I am also fortunate to be involved in the career of another Olympic gold medallist, Felix Diaz. The Dominican Republic’s favourite son was in search of win number five as he pounded out a six-round unanimous decision over Orlando Membreno. Like Paquiao and Guttierrez, Diaz is another relentless, southpaw, punching machine. Like Paquiao as well, Diaz is clearly loved by his country as the standing room only crowd chanted his name throughout the night, and he obliged with an exciting, powerful performance against a game Membreno. In five short fights Diaz is not only proving what a complete fighter he is becoming, but what a potential star he will become in the future.
So on a weekend in which the Pac-Man once again showed he is simply the greatest, I was lucky enough to take part in a pro fight card, in a country that is as mad about boxing, as Canadians are about hockey.
