IT WOULD be nice to think that the current interest being shown by several American promoters in Filipino boxers is due largely to the impressive ring performances of Pacquiao, Bautista, Gorres, Viloria, Jaca et al in recent US fights.
But the fact is, boxing is a business and promoters will always look at the bottom line before signing anyone up. In other words, these contracts have to at least have the possibility of bringing in profits.
Just last week, the prestigious Golden Boy Promotions Inc., the company of multi-titled boxing icon Oscar de la Hoya, signed an agreement with the ALA stable of Cebu to promote Filipino boxers in the States. Another top-notch American company, Bob Arum’s Top Rank has also signified interest in booking Filipinos to fight under their banner.
ALA boys Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista and Z “the Dream” Gorres have already been signed up for fights in the undercard of high profile fights such as Marco Antonio Barrera against Rocky Juarez on May 20 in LA for Bautista and the Jhonny Gonzalez-Fernando Montiel bout at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on May 27 for Gorres. It’s also been confirmed that a Filipino 4-rounder will be given a chance to fight in Bautista’s card.
An even earlier fight date is being set for Boholanos Czar Amonsot and Along Dinoy in Las Vegas, under Guilty Promotions on May 12.
The sudden enthusiasm in getting Filipinos in American boxing cards is indicative of the realization that there is a viable Filipino market for television and live audiences for U.S. boxing promotions.
It cannot be denied that Manny Pacquiao’s exploits have high-lighted the talent of the Filipino pugilist. But corollary to this, Filipinos who flocked to see Pacquiao and subscribed to pay-per-view to see his fights showed how potent the Pinoy populace in the U.S. is.
This is a complete deviation from the common view that our countrymen in the States will never be united, that their ‘keeping up with the Joneses” attitude coupled with regionalist prejudices will forever divide them. Somehow, they have finally found a rallying point that galvanized the huge Pinoy population and caused them to cheer as one for the Filipino boxing idol.
Pacquiao’s toppling of such Mexican legends as Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales has somehow also ignited a fierce if generally good-natured rivalry between the huge Mexican and Filipino populations there. One only has to surf the different boxing websites to see how passionate and numerous fans of both persuasions are.
Mexicans and Filipinos account for the top 2 ethnic immigrant groups in the United States. While Mexicans have enjoyed the attention of boxing promoters for quite some time, it is only now that Filipinos are being given a long hard look. Statistics say there are around 2 million Filipinos in the U.S., but that’s just the official records. There are definitely more, especially of the undocumented types. And that’s a lot of potential pay-per-view and ticket buyers.
American promoters have pounced on the opportunity forthwith, forging a partnership with top Filipino boxing entrepreneurs such as Tony Aldeguer and Sammy Gello-Ani. It is not a far-fetched idea that there will be more promoters signifying their intention to top bill Filipino boxers not only in the States but in other lucrative promotions around the globe.
This just goes to show that if only we get our act together, positive things could happen for us. We’ve proven that in events like Edsa 1 and 2 and the recent Southeast Asian Games, which became a success because of the support of the people.
The good news coming from boxing should serve as impetus for all of us to take stock of what is happening in different aspects of not only our sporting world but our national life as well.
We still labor under the general impression that Filipinos will always be fragmented and that we have not mastered the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable. But our boxers have proven that even as fighting is their life, they have been responsible for getting a long disunited Filipino community in the States to be one.
The lessons to be learned from our boxers seem pretty obvious.
