INSIDE SPORTS - A LACK OF PRIORITIES
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Mar 2013
ALA Promotions and ABS-CBN should be congratulated for staging what amounts to a historic world title fight between two reigning world champions at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu on Saturday.
The last time the Philippines was privileged to see two incumbent world champions battle each other was when the late, great Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde, the world junior lightweight champion at that time went up against the bigger and stronger world lightweight champion Carlos Ortiz at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in 1964, some 49 long years ago.
The fight between WBO 108 pound champion Donnie Nietes who has held onto his WBO minimum weight and light flyweight world titles for six years aims to, God willing, eclipse the record of Elorde who reigned as world junior lightweight champion for almost seven-and-a-half years.
Nietes faced a formidable task against Mexican challenger and WBO minimum weight champion Moises Fuentes but was determined not to suffer the same fate as Elorde who lost by a 14th round TKO to Ortiz, but to continue his quest to create a record-breaking winning streak.
Nietes weathered two cuts, one on each eye, to salvage a majority draw before a jam-packed Pacific Ballroom at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu, Saturday night.
Fuentes had the added advantage of having three time world champion and surely one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all-time Marco Antonio Barrera in his corner helping brother Jorge Barrera who manages Fuentes.
Barrera in many respects reminds us of Manny Pacquiao, a warrior in the ring but a humble and extremely pleasant individual outside the ring.
Fight fans and ordinary citizens here in Cebu welcomed Barrera with the sincere warmth Filipinos are known for and it touched him that he was given such recognition in the Philippines on his first visit here.
He thanked ALA Promotions profusely for inviting him to Cebu and expressed his gratitude to Filipinos who embraced him like one of their own.
His friendly disposition and his willingness to pose for pictures and to autograph gloves and other items endeared him to the public.
A sumptuous dinner hosted by Tony and Ms. Aldeguer at their lovely home on Thursday night will long be etched in the memory of Barrera and the visiting WBO officials ? referee Jack Reiss and judges Adelaide Byrd and Pat Russel who also went out of their way to conduct a seminar for local ring officials here in Cebu. This example of kindness and reciprocity makes ALA Promotions quite honestly a classy outfit, a cut above any others in the business of boxing.
We find it disappointing that Manny Pacquiao whom Barrera spoke so highly of, failed to show up for the dinner and did not attend the fights reportedly because of a basketball tournament.
Where, in real terms, is his vaunted support for Filipino boxers?
This failure of Pacquiao strikes us as a sad lack of priorities. Surely, as a congressman and someone who aspires to be president some day, his missing a glorious opportunity to show Barrera the courtesy of welcoming him to the Philippines displayed a lack of appreciation of a boxing hero just like himself.
The very fact that Barrera publicly stated he likes Pacquiao very much in contrast with Juan Manuel Marquez whom he obviously dislikes, further accentuated Pacquiao?s failure to do the right thing.
Surely, a local basketball tournament could never be at par let alone take priority over his duty to welcome a true icon of boxing whom he twice fought in his heyday and who, in fact, propelled Pacquiao into the consciousness of the boxing world when Manny scored an 11th round TKO at the Alamadome in Texas in November 2003.
Sadly, how quickly people forget.
Photo: Marco Antonio Barrera at ringside during Nietes-Fuentes fight Saturday, March 2, in Cebu City.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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