I was at a small dinner yesterday in my adopted hometown of Ciudad Hidalgo, Michoacan and, as is usually the case when a group of Mexican men are gathered together for more then ten minutes, the conversation turned to boxing.
The list of topics included the excellence of Juan Manuel Marquez, the greatness of Julio Cesar Chavez, and the promise of rising star “Canelo” Alvarez. But, like most boxing conversations these days, the topic soon rolled around to Manny Pacquiao.
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with hardcore Mexican fight fans, they are not the forgiving type. By nature sore losers and excessively proud winners, it can be a bit of a chore to navigate around their passionate dialogue without falling victim to the us vs. them mentality.
Mexicans seemingly have a new rivalry each week: Mexico vs. Puerto Rico, Mexico vs. The United States, and now the burgeoning rivalry of Mexico vs. The Philippines. But it only stands to reason that the USA’s neighbor to the south would be so passionate about their fighters and subsequent rivalries. They have, literally, set the standard for world class fighting below the welterweight division and have a list of legendary names second to none. Even now, in a bit of a down era, Mexico boasts 13 current world titlists.
So, when the topic of Pacquiao came up, I assumed there would be some aggressive words or, at least, sour grapes for the man once known as the “Mexicutioner.” After all, Pacquiao has beaten some pretty big names in the lore of Mexican fight history: Barrera, Morales, Marquez, Margarito, Larios, etc…
“That’s the nature of boxing,” said one middle-aged fight fan, holding an ice-cold La Victoria beer, “as long as it’s a fair fight, then you can’t complain.”
An older gentleman jumped into the conversation, “Pacquiao came from tremendous poverty and he’s worked hard to get ahead. He’s no different than any of us who are poor and want to put food on the table for our families. I congratulate him because he’s where all of us in the Third World would like to be. As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of us. Maybe not Mexican, but he’s one of us little guys who you can look to and use as an inspiration for your children. Work hard and you can achieve anything.”
“Yeah,” chimed in a passing teenage boy with his girlfriend. “Pacquiao even has us small town indians talking about him.”
In boxing and as someone who works around the sport on a daily basis, it’s easy to become jaded. Fighters are built, torn down, crucified, and exalted at the whim of their promoter and whichever media type is willing to take the bait. Illusion is more common than reality in boxing.
But, for those outside of the “inner circle,” boxing and its varied personalities are very real.
Sometimes it’s refreshing to see fans completely gloss over the political side of the sport and just focus on what all this means to them.
