THREE BEERS WITH THE MASTER
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Aug 2010
Guasave,Sinaloa, Mexico -- One of the many great things about being involved with the inner sanctum in boxing besides witnessing many scintillating fights up close and personal and traveling to many interesting far off places, is spending time with remarkable personalities that make the sweet science what it is today. It is these personalities who work behind the scenes that make fight promotions happen.
That is exactly what happened last night at the restaurant of the El Sembrador Hotel near downtown Guasave.
PhilBoxing head honcho, Dong Secuya (who I room with at the hotel) and I went to the restaurant last night for dinner. Already seated at a table having a lively conversation were ALA Boxing VP Dennis Canete and boxing promoter par excellence? Sampson Lewkowicz. Needless to say, we were invited to join them for dinner and a few beers.
Lewkowicz, as every pure boxing fan knows is one of the world?s most talented and well respected boxing matchmakers in our generation.
And, judging from what I heard during the conversation we had with him, boxing would not have been what it is today particularly with reference to the exploits of the great Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino boxing icon if it were not for Lewkowicz.
Now I know why they call the man a ?Picasso?.
Lewkowicz apparently was deeply involved with the upswing of the career of Manny Pacquiao. But not too many are aware of that. I highly suggest that every aspiring writer who would like to put together a book regarding Manny Pacquiao contact Lewkowicz and get the true facts about the career of the Filipino future inductee to the Boxing Hall of Fame. Specifically, the facts after he moved to box in the USA.
?I worked for Murad Mohammad during those days,? he said and ?it was I who introduced Pacquiao to Murad that eventually led to his fight with Ledwaba and the first title he won in the US. I and Sidney Hall had a great part in the beginning of Manny?s career. But apparently it seems, Murad has now claimed all of that,? he added.
?I admit I worked for Murad those days and I learned a great deal from him about boxing and boxing promotions. I even saw the many bad things he did to boxing and other people, boxers included,? Lewkowicz continued. ?But that is not to say he didn?t do good stuff. After a while, I cut my ties with Murad. I just could not be part of the dirty stuff but I kept the good stuff I learned and grew from there,? he added.
Lewkowicz has long been dissociated with Murad and he is now where he is because of the manner he conducts his business:- with honesty, fairness and a great deal of integrity.
One remarkable thing he did that would surely endear him to the Filipino people is his contributions towards the rehabilitation of Z Gorres, the Filipino boxer from the famed ALA Gym who suffered brain damage and needed surgical intervention to restore his quality of life.
Lewkowicz has pledge every penny he will and has made from Philippine promotions he is involved with and a large portion of money he will make in Mexico to ZC Gorres.
Now, who do you know anyone amongst the big-named promoters who has done such an astonishing deed?
Not Arum, not the GBP, not Shaw or King and certainly, not Murad!
Lewkowicz promotes many outstanding boxers. Sergio Martinez, the WBC Middleweight World Champion is one of them. And so is Michael Katsidis, the Australian best known to Filipinos as the conqueror of a once hot lightweight prospect, Cesar Amonsot.
He is also prompting and guiding the career of WBO Minimum weight World Champion Donnie Nietes of the Philippines.
Nietes defends his crown on Saturday night here at Guasave against local boy, Mario Rodriguez.
It is for that reason that we are all in this hot and humid town.
Incidentally, Lewkowicz seldom drinks beer. ?You know I never have beer unless I have Dennis Canete drinking with me. And for some reason we always stop after the third one,? he said with a huge smile in his face.
One or three beers really did not matter. It was the company that counted and the great deal of information we learned about boxing and the man. Indeed, he was an artist in many ways.
A Picasso, so to speak!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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