LONG, LONELY ROAD TO GLORY
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 26 Jun 2011
Edrin Dapudong.
Today, I will join a young boxer from my hometown in North Cotabato, flyweight Edrin Dapudong, on a long journey that will take us from the Southern Philippines to San Francisco in the United States and then to Hermosillo, Mexico where he will have a date with destiny.
It is a rigorous trip, one that will sap the energy out of lesser mortals.
Dapudong, who will turn 25 on the day he embarks on his quest for glory, is expected to overcome that.
And he must. Six days after arriving in Hermosillo, where the temperature reportedly hits 105F, he will engage a bullstrong Mexican boxing champion, Hernan "Tyson" Marquez, for the latter's World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight title.
It is a tough assignment especially for a boxer who is engaged to fight a very tough opponent with only two weeks notice. But it is an opportunity that boxing managers like me, and even boxers like Dapudong, would not let pass because it does not come everyday.
In fact, all of the young fighters from North Cotabato, who are products of the grassroots boxing program I started over 10 years ago now ranked in the top 20 in the world by the different boxing sanctioning bodies, have been instructed to continue training even without a fight schedule because they could be given the chance for the world championship anytime.
Dapudong, son of a security guard who worked with my brother, Noli, and whose mother was our househelp who was sent to school by my parents, is ready for this fight. As of Friday, he was only six pounds over the weight limit. He last fought June 11, disposing of previously undefeated Indonesian fighter Benja Loemoli in only four rounds.
I have faith in this young boy. He has never been cut, never been knocked down or even seriously hurt in any of his 25 professional fights. His three losses all came by decision.
The only concern now is how well he will absorb the fatigue and jetlag factors.
These are the risks Dapudong and other boxers like him face whenever they travel to faraway land to fight for world boxing titles.
But these are the risks we have to take because of the realities besetting Philippine sports.
Mexico has over a dozen world boxing champions now simply because big corporations like Tecate, Corona and Telmex support Mexican boxing promoters enabling them to produce world champions as they have advantage of being able to select the opponents of their boxers.
Compare that to the attitude of big corporations in the Philippines who are stingy with their advertising budget whenever the boxers involved in a boxing promotion are not well known.
"Kilala ba 'yan?," is the most common question posed by advertising managers to proponents of small boxing cards featuring upcoming fighters.
Wait till these boxers become popular champions and all of these tightwads would come in swarms patching their names in the small space of the boxer's shorts. Even a shampoo brand spins on Manny Pacquiao's dandruff to ride on. A vinegar brand asks Pacquiao to show a sour face in exchange for millions just to sell.
I don't know if the day will come when even the toilet bowl company will ask a popular boxer to endorse its product. That could be the most amusing ad we will ever see.
It is worth mentioning, however, that there are generous corporations who have worked with Philippine boxing for so long, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. Tanduay, San Miguel Beer, Family Rubbing Alcohol, Asia Brewery with their Summit Water and Cobra energy drink, Red Bull, lately PLDT Smart and even the government corporations like the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes and PAGCOR have plunked hundreds of millions of pesos in support of the Filipino boxer.
What makes matter worse for Philippine boxing is the inexplicable attitude of boxing fans of wanting to see a good boxing card for free. This I believe is a social malady called "free-loading."
There are people who could very well afford to buy P500 tickets, including top government officials, but who would prefer to ask for, sometimes even demand, complimentary tickets from the promoters because it is a status symbol to be able to get into big boxing events for free.
And without local support, most boxing promoters and managers choose to bite the bullet and let their boxers go to foreign land to fight for world championships hoping that with a world boxing title belt draped across his chest, the unknown Filipino boxer would gain the attention of Philippine corporations.
"Victory has many fathers, defeat is an orphan," so said Count Galleazo Ceano.
So Dapudong travels to Mexico with a heavy load on his shoulders. If he wins, he will be hailed as a sports hero who displayed the indomitable spirit of a Filipino who excels in a foreign land against all odds.
If he fails, he will be called a "bum" and his managers "greedy leeches" hungry for dollars. And this is expected to come from the very people who refuse to pay for a P500 boxing ticket and corporate sponsors who will not part with their advertising budget unless the boxer is popular.
It's a long and lonely road to glory. The fighters travel alone but victorious he will come home lifted on the shoulders of people whose only desire is to get their faces inside the small TV camera frame with the new world champion.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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