BEHIND THE SCENES

ALFRED P DIZON
Manny vs Hoya fight a mismatch?

I usually don’t want to write about matters of national interest much more sports since these are covered by the media of Imperial Manila but I felt couldn’t pass this e-mail saying Games and Amusement Board chairman Eric Buhain has asked the World Boxing Council to cancel the Dec. 6 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar dela Hoya because he believes the Filipino icon has no chance of pulling off a win.

He reportedly told congressmen his sentiment on the matter during a budget hearing last week. But sorry for him, the boxing council informed Buhain it was too late to scrap the match because the contract for it has already been signed.

Opposition Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City was also quoted as saying he supported the GAB appeal of the cancellation of the fight.

“I think Manny has no chance of winning. Dela Hoya, who is five inches taller and who is five inches longer in reach than our boxing idol, will kill the smaller and lighter Manny,” he said in the mail dispatch. “This boxing bout is just about money. Pacquiao has no chance. We have to protect him. He is a national treasure.”

The Pacquiao-Dela Hoya slugfest is projected to rake in at least $100 million in total revenues. Pacquiao is expected to share between $15 million and $20 million.
Rodriguez suggested to Buhain that if Pacquiao does not want to back out of his coming fight with Dela Hoya, the GAB should consider revoking his license now. “If he is deprived of his boxing license, he will have a legitimate reason to walk away,” he said. Buhain said his agency would consider Rodriguez’s suggestion. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

I wonder about the real intention of Buhain and Rodriguez in wanting to stop the Pacquiao-De La Hoya bout. Doesn’t these two honorables have other things to do? The two boxers want the fight as millions of fans worldwide do. If they are that concerned about Pacquiao’s safety, maybe they could be assured that there is a referee who would stop the fight if Pacquiao would be badly mauled.
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Anyhow during the hearing, Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel of the party-list group An Waray expressed his concern over the debacle suffered by the Philippine team at the recent Olympic Games in Beijing.

Noel, who watched the team perform in Beijing, said lawmakers should be willing to support Filipino athletes and their trainers with additional funds provided they do better in the next regional and world sports events.

“Their next events could be their last chance. Otherwise, they won’t be able to justify the expenditure of hundreds of millions in taxpayers’ money,” he told reporters. He also urged Philippine Sports Commission officials to do “house cleaning” and reject interference from some politicians in sports programs and events.
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In the provinces, methinks there is a need to restructure the sports program of this Banana Republic. Why can’t we strive in sports where we can excel? Forget basketball, we are dwarfs as compared to non-Asians.

In the Cordillera, there are a lot of Igorots who could be trained in martial arts (owing to their body build and agile reflexes) like karate, taekwondo, wrestling, judo and yes – boxing. Remember Ifugao’s Gayamo in the not so recent past who made his opponent fly out of the ring with a single punch at the Baguio Convention Center?

Sad to say, as most boxers of this country, his career was mismanaged. In a fight in Japan, Gayamo was left with no aide much more to pull a chair for him after every round that his opponent’s aides did it for him since his promoter didn’t appear or pay for assistants.

This reflects the sad state of our nation’s sports program. There are simply no adequate funds allotted for the purpose that athletes have to shell out the money from their pockets for their training. The money usually goes to the pockets of you-know-who. In Baguio, it is good we have Dr. Charles Cheng who indulges in sports programs like boxing by personally financing the training, equipment and facilities of his wards.

There is another one who claims to be a sportsman but actually uses people to get funds for his benefit. This character was a former city government officials who now indulges in a game of chance to earn a living by sucking the money out of poor bettors.