Manila, Philippines – It was a rainy night in the beautiful beaches of Puerto Galera, a popular tourist destination in the island of Oriental Mindoro. The exhaustion from an early morning, and a long bumpy trip that entailed strafing Manila traffic and treading the angry waters from the port of Batangas in a boat made out wood, was starting to creep up on me. The heat of the packed gym filled with rabid and sweaty boxing fans fuming with adrenaline didn’t help either. Advertisement
But as fans of hometown boy Roberto Gonzalez together with their mayor Hubert Dolor, collectively held their breaths in shock after getting knocked out by Ryan Sermona in the fifth round after dominating the first four rounds, all I could think of was how fortunate I am to be in such an atmosphere.
This is the golden age of Philippine boxing.
Whether the sport reaches new heights, plateaus, or takes a back seat in the years to come is a different story, but at the dawn of the Manny Pacquiao era, Philippine boxing is definitely thriving.
It was Sunday. Rodel Mayol and Brian Viloria had just finished putting on a show at the Ynares Gym in Pasig against two of the top Mexican boxers in their division, in what was indeed a World Class fight card. But as fellow media members squeezed themselves in the small makeshift press room to get their post fight interviews, Elmer Anuran, one of Philippines’ bright young boxing promoters, had already sold me on going to Puerto Galera with him to cover one of his promising undefeated prospects.
“Boxing in Puerto Galera?” was my response, as well as most who first heard of the proposition. Not that anyone would have anything against watching the sport we love in one of the country’s more popular vacation spots, it’s just that the idea of a big boxing card in such a remote location is something you don’t come across on a regular basis.
The venue was hard enough to get to, that they decided to scrap having a TV camera crew to cover the fight due to the hassles that go with loading, unloading, and setting up all the equipment that had to be transported across the waters. (Don’t worry, I got some nice footages of the event – CLICK THIS LINK)
This is how far the sport has come since Pacquiao’s ring exploits. You have multiple World Class fight cards every week, not only in Manila, but in the provinces as well. Once upon a time, having one world champion boxer like Luisito Espinosa meant the world to the sport in the country, but these days, WBC flyweight world champion Sonny Boy Jaro even struggles to get into locker rooms during fights, because, like he shared to me, security couldn’t even recognize him.
Not only does the Philippines have several world and regional champions like Pacquiao, Viloria, Jaro, Nonito Donaire, Jr., Denver Cuello, Jhonriel Casimero, Donnie Nietes, and several others, boxing promoters, as well as stables, gyms, and cards are popping up like Jollibee, and Mang Inasal franchises.
When I’m out covering boxing in the US, I often get jokes from other boxing scribes about how the Philippines is all about Pacquiao. Whether it’s funny, malicious, sarcastic, does not matter. The truth is, Philippine boxing is way more than just a one trick pony named “Pac Man”. Ignorance is bliss, but one need not search too far to realize that the sport of boxing is alive and flourishing.
Consider yourself lucky. I do. From the wealth of talent, to the passion and enthusiasm of Filipino boxing fanatics, as the country’s Department of Tourism slogan suggests, Boxing is truly “more fun in the Philippines”. And I don’t foresee the party stopping any time soon – not even after Pacquiao hangs it up.
