VILORIA NEXT RP BOXING IDOL
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 13 Oct 2005
My wife, Emily, who is involved in boxing simply because it is my passion, was pleasantly surprised to hear Brian Viloria speak in flawless English as he dedicated his victory over World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight champion Eric Ortiz to a number of people who helped him.
“Wow! Boksingerong Inglesero,” she exclaimed in great amazement as she listened to Viloria after his triumphant first round knockout of the Mexican champion at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last month. (Wow! An English speaking boxer).
My wife’s reaction was understandable. Indeed, Filipino boxers, mostly unschooled, have not been known to be eloquent speakers, except perhaps for Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, who in spite of his lack of education carried himself elegantly, and now the engaging Manny Pacquiao, who has started to speak intelligible English, perhaps a product of tutorial lessons.
I still remember with extreme amusement Rolando Navarrete, who, after knocking out Korean Choi Chung Il in the Duel at the Park in the Rizal Memorial Velodrome in 1982, raised then President Marcos’ hand and jubilantly shouted in his thick Visayan accent: “Mabuhay ang Prisidinti!” (Long live the Prisidint!)
And so in the history of Philippine boxing, it is the boxing manager, not the boxer, who is always the subject of media interviews and Filipino boxers fighting abroad had to engage the services of interpreters to answer questions raised by television commentators.
Not this time, folks!
Viloria’s mastery of the English language gives him a distinct advantage over other Filipino boxing champions and this could easily endear him to both American and Filipino fight fans.
The only problem confronting Viloria now is the fact that in his weight category – jr. flyweight or even flyweight – boxers are not given that much attention by US boxing promoters.
In America, you must at least be a bantamweight to catch the fancy of fight fans who relish at seeing bodies falling all over the ring when the bigger boys start hitting each other.
The only consolation for Viloria is the growing number of Filipinos in the US who have shown interest in boxing mainly because of Manny Pacquiao’s electric performances generating very high Pay-Per-View subscription rates in the big Filipino communities in America.
To cash in on this, Viloria must identify himself as a Filipino, not a Hawaiian.
He is succeeding in doing this when he went home to his native Narvacan, Ilocos Sur to show his champion’s belt to his ailing grandfather and staying on for another week, when his grandfather died, to attend the wake. That is very Filipino.
But Viloria and his handlers must do more than that. They must consider dropping the monicker “Hawaiian Punch.” It does not sound nice especially when Viloria would grow a little older. That might metamorphose to “Hawaiian Punchdrunk.”
My suggestion: “Brown Bomber.” This would emphasize his Ilocano roots (Ilocanos have deep-brown skin) and it would somehow relive the glory days of the first group of Filipino boxers who invaded America at the turn of the century – Pancho Villa, Little Dado, Ceferino Garcia, et al. – who were fondly called the Brown Bombers.
And of course, while it may not be as profitable as fighting in the US, Viloria and his handlers should consider fighting in his homeland – the Philippines.
If he does all these things, Viloria would surely be embraced by Filipino boxing fans and become the new Philippine sports idol.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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