Saga of the Filipino Road Warriors
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 27 Jun 2011
On the night of March 1, 1996, I sat at ringside with my bosom friend, Recah Trinidad, to do the commentary for Philippine television of the fight between defending featherweight champion Luisito Espinosa and Alejandro "Cobrita" Gonzales in the challenger's turf, Guadalajara, Mexico.
It was an eerie feeling knowing that inside the huge Coliseo de Jalisco there were only four Filipinos, aside from Espinosa, who would stand up and sing the national anthem.That would be Clarito Samson, who acquired the TV rights of the fight for the Philippines, Dio Espinosa, Louie's father, Recah and me.
Louie's manager at the time was Japanese boxing writer Joe Koizumi who went to Guadalajara with former world champion Jiro Watanabe.
And so as Louie Espinosa was introduced and the national anthem played, the raucous Mexicans, many of whom were already in high spirits courtesy of Corona Doble XX and Tecate, rained us with boos and beer tin caps.
Of course, Espinosa effectively zipped a lot of Mexican bocas and sent them home looking for more cerveza to drink to drown their sorrows as he knocked out the Cobrita in the fourth round to avenge an earlier loss to the same fighter.
But that scene in Guadalajara depicts the many lonely moments faced by great Filipino boxing warriors as they search for fame and fortune in foreign land.
I was in many of those times. Inside the Rajmaderm Stadium in Bangkok, abusive Thai boxing fans threw wet face towels at us as we covered Eric Chavez's unsuccessful defense of the world strawweight title.
Except for a few, most of the world boxing titles owned by Filipino boxers were won in tough fights staged in hostile territories.
The first Filipino world boxing champion, Francisco Gilledo aka Pancho Villa won the World Flyweight Championship via a 7th round knockout of Jimmy Wilde in the Polo Grounds in New York on June 18, 1923.
Fifteen years later, on Nov. 30, 1938, a fighter from Negros Occidental, Little Dado would win the country's second world title by outpointing countryman and fellow Negrense Small Montana in 10 rounds on Oakland.
Small Montana would later win the flyweight title on Sept. 16, 1939 by outpointing Midget Wolfgast in Oakland, California.
A month after Small Montana's victory, another Filipino from Biliran, Southern Leyte, Ceferino Garcia, would win the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) middleweight title by knocking out Fred Apostoli in the 7th round on Oct. 2, 1939 in Madison Square Garden in New York.
Garcia, who popularized the "bolo" punch and fought the legendary Henry Armstrong to a draw, remains up to this day as the only Filipino to ever win the middleweight title.
After the successes of the pre-war "Little Brown Fighters," it would take over 20 years before the country could produce another world champion in another fight in a foreign land when Gabriel "Flash" Elorde knocked out American Harold Gomes in the 1st round of the World Junior Lightweight championship in the Cow Palace in San Francisco on Aug. 17, 1960.
A succession of victories were scored by unheralded Filipino fighters overseas as the Great Flash Elorde's era was coming to an end.
Bernabe Villacampo won the World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight title over Hiroyuki Ebihara in Japan in 1969 while Erbito Salavarria stopped the Thai boxing hero Chartchai Chonoi in full view of the Thai King for the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title in 1970.
One of the most colorful, if not controversial, Filipino boxing champions, Rolando Navarrete, won the WBC junior lightweight title as a last minute substitute against Cornelius Boza Edwards whom he knocked out in 1981 in Viareggio, Italy.
In 1983, three Filipino road warriors scored sensational victories as Boholano Bobby Berna stopped South Korean Sun In Suh in Seoul in the 9th round in June, followed by Frank Cedeno's sensational 6th round stoppage of Charlie Magri in the Wembley Arena in London in September and Dodie Boy Penalosa's 12th round TKO of Japanese Satoshi Shingaki in December.
A number of Filipino fighters won world titles in strange land: Eric Chavez in Jakarta, Indonesia over Nico Thomas for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight title in 1989; Rolando Pascua in Inglewood, California over Humberto Gonzales in 1990 for the WBC lightflyweight title; Morris East over Akinobu Hiranaka in 1992 in Japan for the WBA lightwelterweight title; Rodel Mayol in Mexico for the WBC lightflyweight title over Edgar Sosa in 2006 and Marvin Sonsona in Ontario, Canada over Mexican Jose Lopez for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior bantamweight title.
But the most dramatic victories scored by any Filipino fighter thus far were Manny Pacquiao's 8th round knockout of Thai boxing hero Chatchai Sasakul for the WBC flyweight title in Thailand in December 1998 and his 6th round demolition of Lehlhonolo Ledwaba in Las Vegas on June 23, 2001 for the IBF superbantamweight title.
His victory over Ledwaba, where he was picked as a last minute substitute with only two weeks to prepare, opened a whole new world for Manny Pacquiao and the Filipino boxers and ushered a record breaking performance by the "Little Brown Fighters."
Ironically, most of the world titles won by the Filipino boxers in foreign land were also lost overseas as well. Many of these losses came in their first defense of the title.
And this is the sad story that will be retold time and again until such time there is a dramatic change in our government's view of its role in sports development and in the boxing fans and corporate sponsors' attitude in supporting small boxing events that eventually will discover and develop the great boxing heroes.
Until that day comes, the Little Brown Warriors will have to take long and rigorous journeys to foreign land in search for the proverbial fame and fortune.
Top photo: Francisco Gilledo aka Pancho Villa.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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