There was a time in the history of nations when disputes were settled not by a full-scale war among opposing armies but by duels among select warriors. The Palestinians, for example, built their dominion over races in what was then considered as hub of human civilization—The East—behind the exploits of a behemoth warrior in Goliath.
Ages later, ranged against the Spartans
and neighboring kingdoms, Agammemnon (circa 1200 BC) would call out Achilles, the finest among Greek warriors at the time, to engage his counterpart of the opposing side in a man-to-man combat. The fate of a nation depended on the outcome of such a duel. Not a few international geopolitical disputes were settled in this manner, and the Greeks were quite successful in devouring hostile principalities with the might of one man.Both Goliath and Achilles eventually found their match. One fell from a magical slingshot; the other from a freakish arrow. Goliath bowed to a relatively small-sized David (who would eventually become King of Israel). Achilles, for all his fighting flair, perished at the hands of Paris (Prince of Troy—aka kidnapper and eventual wife of Helen—not the powder that one day would be associated with Antonio Margarito’s fists).
Boxing itself emerged neither as a sporting event nor a commercially-charged entertainment that it is today.
Boxing started out—and came in quite handy—as a means by which men could settle their disputes. In fact boxing was known by another name—pugilism—in the days of old. It was only sometime in the middle of the 18th century when the Pugilistic Society of England had invented a spectator sport out of fisticuffs. The rules of street fighting eventually gained broad acceptance (at least in England) where, for example, bare knuckle fistfights gave way to one where fighters wore gloves—not to keep the face of the opponent from being deformed, but to protect one’s knuckles (well, fights could continue even with the fighter’s teeth all gone, but they could not when their knuckles were stripped of their skin).
Seconds before Manny Pacquiao, 51-3-2, 38 KO’s, of the Philippines and Ricky Hatton of England were unleashed in the middle of a Las Vegas, Nevada, USA boxing ring during their May 2, 2009 IBO World Light Welterweight championship duel, TV viewers heard Larry Merchant of HBO say: “They are warrior-kings, with armies and fans who follow them to the battle. Now, they will be alone.”
While the armies of old had their bugles and battle hymns (the better to raise the morale of soldiers), the Las Vegas crowd had its own raucous mix of musical bands (the better to stimulate the adrenalin glands of fighters). Minutes earlier, Sir Tom Jones had just sung “God Save The Queen”; Martin Nievera belted out his own rendition of the “Lupang Hinirang” and, back home, got pilloried right away for taking too much creative liberties with the march-to-battle beat of the Philippine national anthem.
Close to 10,000 Britons followed Hatton to watch him fight and defend the honor of The Queen. Equally in full force were the Pacquiao fans, waving blue-red striped flags in an orgasmic display of patriotism.
In about 5 days from now, two countries (Philippines and Mexico) will figure in what is yet again shaping up to be a similarly dramatic bout. The warriors: Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito. The battlefield: Arlington, Texas, USA. The spectator: The world. On the HBO coverage of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, Merchant also said: “Champions from nations at the end of great oceans coming to fight in America mainland, boxing in the US now is officially a global affair.”
Margarito, 38-6, 27 KO’s, will not be coming in as a champion of a nation across great oceans, literally speaking. But he will represent a nation that, since 2003, had scanned the depths and vastness of its pool of warriors, all in an effort to search for the one fighter who could beat the “Mexecutioner.” Ever since Pacquiao—debuting as a 126 pounder—mauled Marco Antonio Barrera, one of Mexico’s boxing legends, in that year, Mexico has pushed its Achilleses to the battlefield in a string of attempts to defend its honor, but always ended up unsuccessful and humiliated. Gabriel Mira, Jorge Julio, Emmanuel Lucero, Hector Velasquez, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, Juan Manual Marquez, Erik Morales, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya—these fighters with Mexican bloodlines came in all weights and sizes. But they hardly measured up against The Pacman.
Mexico had its moment of euphoria when Erik Morales gored Pacquiao in 2005. The glee lasted only 10 months, however, as Pacquiao exacted revenge in a rematch, stopping Morales in the 10th of a scheduled 12-round bout. Stopped once more in the third round of their third face-off another 10 months later, Morales dashed any notion he had something pleasing for Mexico against the Filipino.
Perhaps the only one who came close to finding redemption for a country’s fistic pride was Marquez. Aided by an elementary error of one judge (Burt Clements), he escaped with a draw the first time they met in 2004. He lost in a 2008 rematch—by split decision—although some people (most vocal of whom being Marquez himself) contend that he might have won that fight. Thus, by official accounts, Pacquiao had already beaten Marquez twice in as many fiercely-contested ring battles.
And now Mexico sends in its Goliath. Margarito, standing at 5’11”, towers over Pacquiao (5’6½”) physically. In 1996, Margarito was already fighting as a welterweight (147 pounds), at which time Pacquiao was competing as a flyweight (112 pounds). Three years later, at age 21, Margarito climbed the ring as a middleweight (157 pounds) against Efrain Munoz, also of Mexico. By contrast, Pacquiao did not campaign beyond the super bantamweight class (122 pounds) at age 21.
As in some of his previous match-ups with bigger opponents, Pacquiao tries to make things even against Margarito by forcing the latter to give up poundage. On the day before the fight, both combatants have agreed to weigh not more than 151 pounds.
As the Dallas, Texas, USA battlefield is cleared for the November 13, 2010 duel between the king-warriors of the Philippines and Mexico, and as their legion of armies and fans stand behind them, bands and bugles set to drum up the beat, questions—like Larry Merchant says—need to be answered and answers need to be questioned: Will Margarito rebuild the tarnished Mexican—and his own—pride in the world of beak busting? Or will Pacquiao, once more, rise with his magical slingshots?
We’ll see you with the answers this Saturday.
Source: ringsidereport.com
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