LAST WEEK we told of the whirlwind trip to three southern cities in two days for the PBA All-Stars (Cagayan de Oro) and the “Stars of the Future” boxing promotion (Tagbilaran, via Cebu). Well, it seems we’ve gotten into the habit since the past week-end also saw us jetting to and from Tokyo, Japan spending less than 36 hours there, not counting time spent at the airport.
It would have felt less grueling had our trip brought home a much-coveted boxing crown. For although Manny Pacquiao is the WBC International Super Featherweight champion, we do not really have a Filipino world champion in the big leagues such as what Rodel Mayol went out to conquer last Saturday at the Korakuen Hall. He went up against WBC Minimumweight champion Eagle Kyowa, losing in a unanimous decision over 12 rounds.
We left Manila last Friday afternoon in the company of broadcast partner Quinito Henson and Solar Sports Vice-President for Production Erick Tam. We were optimistic about Mayol’s chances since we knew Rodel had been eyeing a crack at the crown for over two years but it seemed he was always being bypassed, ignored or evaded.
He got a new manager last year, Yasuo Matsuoka, who is married to the former Gina Olais of Nasipit, Agusan Del Norte.
Evidently, Matsuoka is influential in Japan as he was able to swing a championship fight against the highly-respected Kyowa. Matsuoka is handling boxers for the first time, although he has long been a boxing fan. The only other fighter in his stable is OPBF Bantamweight king Malcolm Tu?acao.
Our party was warmly welcomed Friday evening in Tokyo, and was treated to a late but hearty dinner by the Matsuokas, along with Joey Fornier and Hazel Cruz of Team Asia Inc., which partnered with Solar Sports for the Philippine TV coverage.
After dinner, we checked into our hotel at past 2 a.m. Our accommodations were spartan but squeaky clean and we gratefully laid our weary bodies for a total of 4 hours rest. We agreed to meet at hotel coffee shop at 7:30 for breakfast so we could get an early start to check on the TV set-up at the nearby Korakuen Hall and to be able to talk to the boxers and trainers before the fight.
We ran into colleagues Recah Trinidad (belated happy birthday, ka Rec!) and fellow Bulletin man Nick Giongco at breakfast and we decided to go out as a group. We got to Korakuen Hall at a little past 9 a.m., only to find out there was a function gong on and we could not inspect the facilities.
Erick volunteered to stay behind and wait for the Nippon Television people as Joey and Hazel offered to take us to lunch and some shopping rather than just stand around waiting for something to happen.
We spent a couple of hours at the 100-yen store where everything cost 100 yen (roughly around 45 pesos) and then had a quick lunch with the Matsuokas in the Akibahara district, about 25 minutes by cab from our hotel.
We decided to head back to our hotel for a brief rest and shower before the fight. I managed a 45-minute nap, and then Quinito and I got into our monkey suits and walked in the cool Tokyo spring weather to the fight venue (a leisurely 10-minute stroll).
We had time to visit the boxers at the dressing room, saw Malcolm Tu?acao warming up impressively with the punch mitts with trainer Miura. We gave Mayol some words of encouragement and gave some of my Chinese gout medicines with the limping Brix Flores. We shared pleasantries with boxer Randy Suico and trainer Juanito Ablaca.
You all know what happened during the fights. Tu?acao bucked stomach cramps to stop Yasuo Kijima in 11 rounds while Rodel Mayol started out smokin’ only to fizzle out in the second half of the fight.
Dejectedly, Quinito, Erick and I went out into the nippy night to look for a place to eat. We ran into Atty. Chito Salud (former Commissioner Rudy’s son) and his wife Gretchen in a small eatery near the stadium. He said the food was good and the price reasonable by Tokyo standards. And indeed it was. We paid an average of 900 yen (about R500) each for a good Japanese meal.
We got back to our hotel at past midnight, packed our stuff, slept about 3 hours and were off to the airport by bus at 5 a.m. to catch our 9:30 a.m. flight back home.
Like I said, it would have been less tiring, if only…
