141. PINOY BOXING &OCTUPLE CHAMPION PACQUIAO
During my four-terms as a municipal
councilor of Cabatuan, Isabela, I have always encouraged boxing as a sport
among the youth. Every Foundation Day Celebrations, I strongly recommended that
boxing should be included in the various events under the Committee on Sports.Though
not a hardcore fan of boxing, I observed that most Filipino boxers of
present-day came from southern Philippines.This made me dream of having a
national champion boxer from the north particularly from my town or at least
from the province of Isabela. Punong Barangay Juanito “Juaning” E. Hidalgo and
LGU employee Gregorio P. Topinio were my partners in the promotion of amateur
boxing in my town.
Today, foremost worldwide champion, Emmanuel
DapidranPacquiao Sr. has
declared his retirement from the world of boxing ten days after he announced his presidential bid on September 19during
the National Assembly of the PDP-Laban.Nicknamed "PacMan" and “Manny”, he is
regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. An octuple champion, Manny is
the only boxer in history to have won twelve major world titles in eight
different weight divisions.Pacquiao’s name is immortalized and will
forever be synonymous to the great sport of worldwide boxing.
Tracing back the history of Philippine boxing revealed that the popular Filipino sports has its roots long before the arrival of the Spanish colonizersand it was locally known as “suntukan”. However, it was during the arrival of the Americans that the sport was formally introduced. There are three versions of the history. American soldiers brought the modern boxing in the Philippines where evidences of a pair boxing gloves were made by Sol Levinson of San Francisco. Another version states that a renegade soldier brought some boxing gloves to Filipino prisoners and taught them how to use it. The most popular and accepted version isbelieved that three Americans were responsible for the evolution of boxing in the country namely: Frank Churchill and the Tait brothers, Eddie and Stewart. The brothers, also dubbed as "Barnums of Borneo", were amusement park entrepreneurs who established carnivals and horse racing tracks in Manila. In 1902, they arrived in the country and Eddie, a boxing enthusiast, wanted to attract crowds by teaching Filipino locals some western boxing lessons for free to create American-style Filipino boxers.
In 1921, boxing was legalized in the Philippines and began to flourish. Frank Churchill joined by the Tait brothers, established the Olympic Boxing Club in Manila. During this time, the country saw the first batch of great Filipino fighters such as DencioCabanela, Speedy Dado, the Flores brothers, Francisco, Elino, Macario and Ireneo, Pete Sarmiento, SylvinoJamito, Macario Villon and the legendary Pancho Villa (1901-1925). Sport writers categorized this era as the first golden age of Philippine boxing. The Ceferino Garcia (1906-1981) - Glen Lee (American) fight on December 23, 1939 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex was the first world title bout ever recorded in the Philippine Islands.The glorious era was short-lived following the ring deaths of popular fighters DencioCabanela and Clever Sencio along with the death of Pancho Villa from Ludwig's angina and their influential promoter Frank Churchill.Another famous boxer of this time was Luis Logan.
On July 20, 1955, Filipino boxing fans saw the birth of Philippine boxing's second golden era as a Cebuano boxer named Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (1935-1985) beat the then reigning world featherweight champion and later Hall of Famer Sandy Saddler in a non-title bout at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Elorde went on to win the world super featherweight championship and kept his world title inside a division record of 7 years and 2 months with 10 successful defenses, including a one-round knockout of Harold Gomes in a rematch.Elorde, during his time, was one of the busiest fighters who traveled to fight very often. A great and fearless fighter, he was one of the most beloved Filipino athletes since Pancho Villa.In this Elorde inspired period, twenty world champions emerged spanning from Roberto Cruz to Gerry Peñalosa along with the formation of the "Big Four of Professional Boxing" or the major sanctioning bodies, namely the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. However, as time went by, boxing was becoming less popular in the country because of many alternative sports including basketball until Manny Pacquiao came.
Pacquiao’s profiles in the net reveals that he was an entertaining star in the local boxing television show called "Blow-by-Blow" by the famed Filipino manager and promoter Rod Nazario. Viewers became accustomed to Pacquiao's name not only because of his aggressive style but also due to his unique looks and catchy surname. Pacquiao's ascendancy heralded a new wave of Filipino boxers and marks the third great era of Philippine boxing.
The "Pacquiao Wave" regenerated boxing in the Philippines, inspiring a new generation of boxers to aim higher. In 2014, NonitoDonaire became the second Asian to win four world titles in four weight divisions. In 2017, Donnie Nietes became the third Filipino boxer to win world titles in three different weight divisions. The following year, Nietes became the third Filipino boxer and third Asian to win world titles in four different weight divisions.
The Philippines is one of the founding member nations of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF). Filipino boxers also contributed to the history of boxing from rules and techniques to records and achievements. Pancho Villa is not only the first Asian and Filipino world champion but is also described as one of the cleanest boxers before the proper rules were established. Ceferino Garcia is credited as the inventor of the "bolo punch". However, according to Tahoma News-Tribune, a fellow Filipino boxer named Macario Flores was reportedly using it. Flash Elorde still holds the record for the longest reign in the super featherweight or junior lightweight (130 lbs.) division - 7 years, 2 months and 29 days with 10 title defenses.His success was due to his innovative footwork and maneuvers which he learned from training BalintawakEskrima with his father "Tatang" Elorde who was the Eskrima champion of Cebu.Elorde's style from eskrima has been adopted by many boxers, including his friend Muhammad Ali, which influenced the out-boxer style of boxing.While Donnie Nietes holds as the longest Filipino world champion in the light flyweight division. On November 13, 2010, Manny Pacquiao entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first ever boxer to win eight world titles in eight different divisions.
The Philippines produced 44 major world champions, one of the most in the world.Despite not having won a gold medal in boxing, the Philippines has had multiple Olympic standouts, with 8 out of its 12 total Olympic medals coming from boxing, along with some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. Filipino greats like Pancho Villa, Flash Elorde and Ceferino Garcia are members of the two highly respected boxing hall of fames - International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF)and World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF) thus, giving the Philippines the most number of boxing hall of fame.
Boxing catapulted Manny Pacquiao into other ventures likehead coach and a player for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team Kia/Mahindrabefore founding the semi-professional MaharlikaPilipinas Basketball League, also starred in films and has presented television shows, recorded music and released multiple PARI-certified platinum albums and songs. He is also an Evangelical Christian preacher, philanthropist, entrepreneur, socialite and YouTube personality. Aside from boxing, another laurel was added to his cap when he was twice elected Representative of the Lone District of Sarangani (2010-2016) and a Senator of the Philippines in 2016.
Filipinos love boxing and Pacquiao. Urban stories tell that whenever PacMan is in the ring for a fight, the Philippines becomestemporarily a crime-free country because all the police and criminals were in unison watching the drama unfold.Filipinos and boxing lovers around the globe will surely miss the Pacquiao action. Manny, in a 15-minute video on his Facebook page spoke, "To the greatest fans and the greatest sport in the world, thank you!Thank you for all the wonderful memories. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made, but I’m at peace with it. Chase your dreams, work hard, and watch what happens. Good bye boxing."
Mga Komento
Mag-post ng isang Komento