CHAMPION MAYOL NOW MERITS BETTER SUPPORT AND RESPECT
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 23 Nov 2009
Rodel Mayol was just one of the boys that toiled in the background. In fact if you are not specifically looking for him at the gym where he trains, he could simply get lost in the background.
But not any more.
Mayol recently won the WBC junior flyweight title by a scintillating TKO of Edgar Sosa, the ex-world champion with 10 straight wins defending his title. Sosa’s accomplishment is great. But, it was not as good as the manner in which Mayol went after him during the fight for the WBC crown. And, for Mayol to win the way he did in the champion’s turf is simply breathtaking.
Mayol, responding to his corner’s coaching made it a fight almost as soon as the fight begun with the first bell. He chased Sosa around the ring stopping at nothing from bell to bell (well okay, from round 1 until the TKO that stopped the fight halfway past the 2nd round, less than 6 minutes to be exact.).
Mayol dropped Sosa late in the 1st round but the champion survived the KD.
Then a short time later in round 2, amidst the crowd’s cheer of “Si se puede” and “Sosa, Sosa” as the fight resumed, an accidental head butt occurred that caused an injury to Sosa and a point deduction for Mayol.
Not that Sosa was ill-trained, but from the beginning it did not appear that Sosa was going to last the whole fight. It was for that reason that after the first round Jesse Arevalo instructed Mayol to go for the kill.
Even at the weigh-in, we noticed that Sosa looked drained and a few hours later we saw him again. He appeared bloated, possibly from too much liquid in so short a time.
Clearly Sosa had some weight issues he and his Team failed to solve correctly. But that is part of the game and saying that it was totally the direct cause of his lost will take away the merits of the performance of Mayol.
While it could be argued that Sosa’s energy may have been sapped by the accidental head butt, the numerous combinations that Mayol landed did most if not all of the damage. Sosa it appeared was having a bad day and he did not have anything to counter the onslaught of Mayol.
Thankfully, the referee saw enough and stepped in to stop the fight. Otherwise, with the condition Sosa was in, he could have suffered more damage than what he already did.
Now that Mayol is a champion, could it be too far off to say that he will now “get noticed”?
For one, will his promoters now pay more attention to him as he now has a bigger potential to bring in more money for them?
I surely hope so!
Perhaps next time around who ever is assigned by the Manny Pacquiao Promotions to take care of Mayol’s affair (after all they reportedly get 20% promotional fee) will at least take a second look at the kid and do things right for him.
Perhaps important and expected things like booking the flights for his team will be given more importance unlike what happened with his fight when Mayol’s wife Lira to stepped in and take care of those details on the very last minute because the person supposed to do it bungled the initial reservations so badly!
And, in utter disrespect, he did not even lift a finger in an attempt to correct the error!
He merely ignored it! Worse, he blamed the promoters for the mix up.
As a result Mayol spent almost $1000.00 of his own money, a huge sum for a boxer in his weight class just so his whole team will be in Mexico in time for his fight!
Mayol is now a WBC world title holder. It is an accomplishment not too many people had achieved.
And he worked long and hard for every ounce of metal and slice of leather in that WBC belt. And so did his wife Lira who made sure that he was properly nourished and well taken care off so his frame of mind will be at ease.
As a champion, now is the time that he is given some measure of respect and unconditional support.
After all, he deserves it!
That is not asking too much, isn’t it?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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