WATCH OUT! THE PINOYS ARE COMING
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 13 Sep 2005
The stunning victories of Manny Pacquiao and two other Filipino boxers Saturday night in Los Angeles, California could serve as a fair warning to boxing impresarios in the US that the Mexican domination of the American boxing scene is about to come to an end.
For so many years, Mexican fighters hogged the limelight in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and other major sports centers in the United States.
Those years brought forth the names of Ruben Olivarez, Alfonso Zamora , Salvador Sanchez, Rafael Limon , Julio Cesar Chavez , Oscar dela Hoya and of late Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
The Filipnos’ occasional appearances in the US boxing scene were simply products of accidents, mostly as last minute substitutions. Rolando Navarrete entered the US boxing scene following his stunning knockout of Cornelius Boza-Edwards in Viaregio, Italy.
Luisito Espinosa was able to fight in the US mainly because he was already a bantamweight champion in 1987.
Of course, the latest example was Pacquiao’s last minute call a few years ago to fill in the slot in the fight against Lehlo Ledwhaba .
But now, everybody is served a notice that the Filipinos are ready to take the centerstage in the American boxing scene – thanks to Manny Pacquiao and, of course no one can dispute this, Murad Muhammad who brought the Pacquiao name to the consciousness of the American boxing fans.
Two groups of American promoters are now trying to beat each other for the right to promote or manage upcoming Filipino boxers – Shelley Finkel who now has Pacquiao and Brian Viloria and Murad Muhammad who has agreed to promote the fights of lightweight Dexter Delada, jr. lightweight Jimrex Jaca and Philippine junior bantamweight champion Eric Barcelona.
This competition between the two groups is healthy for Philippine boxing and would prove to be a big break for the Filipino boxers whose talents have largely been underrated for so many years now.
But with last Sunday’s demolition by Viloria of Meixcan jr. flyweight champion Eric Ortiz and Pacquiao’s domination of Hector Velasquez, not to mention Ray Bautista’s 3rd round knockout of Felix Murillo, a new era starts for Filipino boxers in the US.
The start of a viable amateur boxing program now being initiated by the Governors of the Philippines will also ensure that the parade of Filipino boxing stars in the American boxing scene will go on for sometime.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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