By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

BACK to sports. The subject of this piece is all about boxing. Firstly, anent the failure of our Fil-Am fighter, the former four-division world champion Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire to recapture the World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight diadem held last July 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We watched on TV how the former world champion Donaire lost his last title-fight against Mexican world title contender Alexandro Santiago. We saw how the five-foot-two diminutive Mexican pugilist pummeled the more experienced and taller (5’7”) Donaire to capture the vacant WBC bantamweight tiara via convincing 12-round unanimous decision, 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 that surprised the crowd, particularly his Filipino fans, including this writer. The 40-year-old aging Donaire who holds a record of 42 wins, 8 losses, with 14 knockouts was obviously outclassed by Santiago in all angles of boxing from agility, to footwork, to reflex and counter punching. The fight reminds me how the flashy and speedy five-foot-six Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao mauled the taller (5’11”) Mexican hombre Antonio Margarito in their WBC welterweight title battle many years ago. Yes, that was during the prime period of Pacquiao, the only eight-division champion this planet had ever produced.

Honestly, after the late Gabriel “Flash” Elorde’s regime as the world junior lightweight champion in 1960s, Donaire is my third favorite Filipino world champ during this era of world boxing after Pacquiao and the former world light-flyweight champion Donnie Nietes. Being my idol and having the means to travel to Cebu City, I watched all Nietes’ world title fights in the flesh all held at Waterfront Hotel. (The 5’2” Nietes is now inactive after his failure to defend his flyweight crown and the last I heard, though unconfirmed, he already quit his chosen career but sans a press release).

Nietes’ best fight that I personally watched in Cebu City held also at Waterfront Hotel was his second battle against World Boxing Organization (WBO) number one contender Mexican Moises Fuentes in the light-flyweight division where he technically kayoed Fuentes in the 9^th round. And believe it or not, it was there when I personally met Fuentes’ new trainer and coach, the former world featherweight titlist the handsome Mexican boxing legend Marco Antonio Barrera, arch-rival of Pacquiao who the duo fought twice with Pacquiao winning both. Yes, I had a long chitchat with him and had a tasty dinner and drank some bottles of SML beer after the fight, courtesy of fight coordinator Michael Fernandez. I was accompanied by my son Moises Garcia who hails from Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga, close to the Clark International Airport where we took the flight to Cebu City. When I told Barrera that my Mexican late grandmother Severiana’s last name was Barrera, he politely answered, “Who knows, we might be related then with each other.” That tickled and elated me and led me to drink another round of beer.

Donaire is now forty years old and whether he likes it or not, his prime time had already passed and now at his twilight time. I’m a former athlete and also experienced what Donaire happened to him. “Mahirap kontrahin ang edad,” said my barriomate and sports buff Armando Lalata. I agree. Donaire, I guess, knows that sports are only for the young ones. Only few boxers conquered the forty-years age descent and one of them is Pacquiao and former world heavyweight champ George Foreman, to name some. Donaire should hang up his gloves now before something really bad could happen to him. That’s my unsolicited advice. Boxing is brutal and cruel sport. Look what happened to former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. He died at 74 years of age due to Parkinson disease caused by boxing. I believe, he could have lived longer if he had retired early.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. EXODUS 20: 7

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