Villa elates country with world flyweight title win (Second of a Series)
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 21 Jun 2010
After absorbing punishment for seven rounds on June 18, 1923 where he kissed the canvass five times, deposed world flyweight champion Jimmy Wilde of Wales laid unconscious for five minutes before being helped by Filipino conqueror Pancho Villa himself to his stool .
Wilde from Tylerstown, Wales, who held the 112-pound crown for seven years from the time he was installed in 1916, was carried bodily to his dressing room with a bleeding mouth, gashed cheek and both eyes closed. Rumors had it that he would not see again and was rendered dumb the rest of his life until he perished in the 60s.
Two years after he won the world title, the first Filipino and Asian, for that matter, Villa was dead following a controversial defeat to soon-to-be world welterweight champion Jimmy Mclarnin in an overweight match held July 4, 1925.
Manila went gaga over Villa?s title triumph. Ships whistled and ice plant sirens blared the announcement of his victory. Extra editions of the four English, Spanish and Tagalong newspapers came up with the news. ?Schoolchildren on the streets lisped the name of Pancho,? Mirror Magazine writer Eric Giro wrote in the book ?Philippine Sports Greats? published in 1972.
Quoted the Philippines Herald in its issue of June 23: ?Pancho Villa is one of our national peaks. He is, in the role which is assigned to him in the different manifestations of our national life, the most glorious exponent of the vitality and the energy of his race,?
?Congratulations, Pancho. Come back to us and defend your title here,? General Emilio Aguinaldo, echoing the sentiment of the entire nation, wired Villa from Manila.
The Philippines Herald had this to say: You (Pancho) made the world pay homage to the Philippines. Pancho Villa is a doctor in modern law.?the law of might. ?
?Pancho Villa is an example of what constant work and determination can do to a man,? Eddie Tait, owner of the Olympic Stadium on which floor Villa slept all night during after stowing away from hometown Iloilo, said.
Pancho?s wife Gliceria, whom the new champ married days before enplaning to the United States in May a year prior, said upon learning of his husband?s win: ? You cannot imagine the happiness I felt upon receiving the first notices of the victory of my husband. I cried not because of pain but emotion. I was hoping for his triumph.?
She said her prayers before the Black Nazarene of Quiapo had been heard and that in her heart she had always known Pancho would make it as world champion. She sent Pancho a message: ?We are very happy. All Manila celebrates your triumph. We hope you will return soon. ?
Months later, Gliceria landed in New York. The flyweight champion showed his wife the city?s attractions and conducted her on shopping tours at classy Tiffany?s and Fifth Avenue
Pancho fought 13 more times since his wife?s arrival, earning an average $20,000 purse per. But he spent the money even faster that he earned them. His foster father and discoverer Paquito Villa, from whose name he derived his nom de guerre, often cautioned him of overspending, advising him to save for his future.
He would tell the elder Villa he could not get over being raised poor for so many years that he was only trying to make up for it.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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