Manny Pacquiao: The Early Years in L.A.

Published

11 years ago

November 21, 2013

Light speed best describes how quickly the years pass in a prizefighter’s career.

A mere 12 years ago the upstairs boxing gym was in full throttle when a few of us zigzagged our way through the maze of boxers, trainers, groupies and journalists at the Wild Card Boxing gym.

Headmaster Freddie Roach smiled and ambled his way toward us. He seemed a little more peppy as he stuck his hand out to greet us.

“I’ve got a new fighter you should see,” said Roach. “He’s a Filipino kid and he’s been knocking out everyone here.”

Today, everyone knows Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (seen in above Chris Farina-Top Rank photo, ahead of Roach, as they arrive in Macao), but back in 2001, just those regulars at the Hollywood boxing haven knew about the quicksilver southpaw. Other than the regular boxing beat writers, there were no several hundred boxing fans waiting outside. In those days James Toney was the marquee fighter in that gym and others like Israel Vazquez, Roger “Speedy” Gonzalez, Ian MacKillop and a few others trained there.

Roach was anxious to show off Pacquiao and itching to grab a fight for his newest protégé. When IBF junior featherweight titlist Lehlo Ledwaba’s opponent fell through they called Roach and he immediately took the fight. It was one of those unique breaks that seem to come at the right time.

A few of us had watched Pacquiao spar and he worked like a human buzz saw inside the ring. It didn’t matter who sparred, they all ate a lot of punches as Pacquiao darted in and out and fired blurring combinations. So when the contract was finalized, those few of us who knew about Pacquiao made sure to mention this fight to our readers and friends.

Pacquiao’s television debut took place on June 23, 2001, at the MGM Grand. The main event was Oscar De La Hoya facing Spain’s Javier Castillejo. Few gave the Spaniard a chance against De La Hoya. And even fewer realized about the coming of Pacquiao.

What I remember is HBO’s television boxing crew crowing about the talent of Ledwaba. They hyped the South African who was making his sixth title defense and mentioned little about Pacquiao. It’s one of their failings. They rarely bother to watch preliminary fights, let alone visit boxing gyms. So when Pacman made his entrance they were completely surprised.

A handful of Southern California journalists knew what was going to happen. We had seen his exploits in the gym and were confident about Pacquiao being able to transfer that to the prize ring. It was an eager moment for this writer because I had promised many of my friends that Pacquiao would run over Ledwaba.

Poor Ledwaba. Pacquiao was a replacement just two weeks before the fight date. There was no reason to believe that a former flyweight world champion would give much trouble. But that night Ledwaba was massacred from the first round until the sixth when he no longer could continue. Just like that Pacquiao was a world champion again.

Five months later Pacquiao would be defending that title against Agapito Sanchez in San Francisco. Sadly, Sanchez was murdered in 2005 in a dancing ballroom in his native country. The diminutive Dominican southpaw trained at the old L.A. Boxing Club located behind the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He was a clever boxer who was very familiar with Pacquiao’s style. When he met Pacquiao at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium it was already pre-determined what needed to be done.

Pacquiao was butted and held and frustrated by Sanchez’s tactics. Cuts flowed from the champion’s face and though he tried to fight his way through the constant butts and clinches, it was just not possible. Sanchez used every trick in his arsenal to keep the champion from utilizing his power. The fight ended in a technical draw after ringside physicians ruled that Pacquiao could not continue.

It proved to be a good learning experience for Pacquiao.

After a two-round demolition of Jorge Eliecer Julio in Memphis, the U.S. did not see Pacquiao in the ring for another year. The champion fought twice in the Philippines and brought along his trainer Roach to the islands for the first time.

Pacquiao’s L.A. fight debut finally took place in the summer of 2003 at the Olympic Auditorium. It would be his first and only appearance in the historic boxing venue. The historic boxing structure where every great fighter like Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali to Salvador Sanchez showed their skills would shutter its doors for good two years later.

A few of us arrived early and were talking outside on the parking lot when trainer Roach arrived with his boxing gear over his shoulder. He had just returned from the Philippines and was anxious to tell us about his experience.

“The people are very friendly but the place is very poor,” said Roach, adding that amenities like tissue paper and other small items were not readily available. “I learned a lot. Next time I go I’m bringing stuff with me.”

Pacman’s next opponent would be undefeated Emmanuel Lucero of New York. Though he was living in the Big Apple he was actually born in Mexico City. Not many boxing journalists knew much about Lucero except that he was Mexican.

It was a good fight card that night. Fernando Vargas had recently lost against rival Oscar De La Hoya and chose to fight Fitz Vanderpool. Others fighting and winning were Sergio Mora, BJ Flores and Malik Scott. A large boxing crowd showed up that night to see the solid fight card.

Filipino prizefighters had been showcased in the Olympic Auditorium for many decades. Guys like Speedy Dado and Pablo Dano were great Filipino boxers and attractions at the L.A. boxing venue from the 1930s on. Pacquiao was yet another link to great Filipino fighters of the past.

Lucero entered the ring with an unorthodox low crouch and ducked under Pacquiao’s immediate attacks. But the Mexican from New York couldn’t touch Pacquiao who would dart back a few feet before resuming the attack. Then came those uppercuts. When Pacman zipped in to deliver one of those left-hand uppercuts, Lucero seemed to walk into the punch and down he went like a sniper had shot him from one of those seats in the rafters. It was over in a mere three rounds and the crowd was in awe.

Next would be the real awe-inspiring fight when he met Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera.

First Mexican challenge

A triumvirate of Mexican prizefighters ruled the boxing landscape in the junior featherweight and featherweight divisions in 2003. Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez conquered most of the best fighters from 122 to 126 pounds and their followers debated who was superior.

Roach was not sure what to expect.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Roach before the fight. “Barrera is a good fighter and very smart, but he’s never faced anyone like Manny.”

Little was expected of Pacquiao when he signed to face Barrera on November 2003. Barrera had humiliated United Kingdom’s Prince Hamed and defeated Morales in a rematch a year earlier. He had also run over former world champions Johnny Tapia, Enrique Sanchez and Kevin Kelley. Plus, he had just signed a contract with the new promotion company Golden Boy Promotions. But everything went wrong for the Mexican fighter from day one.

When he left his former promoter it caused bad feelings including an announcement from them that Barrera had suffered a head injury and had a metal plate place in his head. Then a major fire at his Big Bear Lake location forced his training camp to move. Plus, he simply did not take Pacquiao seriously.

Bad idea.

Pacquiao floored Barrera several times and never allowed the Mexican champion to regain footing. If anything, Barrera could only look to survive the onslaught but even in survival mode, Pacquiao stormed past the barricades of Barrera’s defense. It ended in round 11.

“What I do remember is fighting a guy I knew nothing about and a very explosive fighter. What I remember about other than losing the fight was he really beat me with the body shots,” said Barrera in a recent telephone press conference.“He was an extremely quick fighter that I was not prepared for.”

Most of the boxing world was unprepared for Pacquiao but soon would appreciate his talent. Crowds began to gather outside the Wild Card Boxing Gym and soon even the boxing reporters doubled and tripled on the doorsteps. From this point on Pacquiao’s journey would never be overlooked again.

End of part one.

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David A. Avila

With Olympic Boxing on the Ropes, Three Elite U.S. Amateurs Shine in Colorado

Published

2 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Three USA boxers won gold medals at the recently concluded World Boxing U19 tournament in Pueblo, Colorado. The tournament, restricted to boxers aged 17 and 18, attracted contestants from 30 nations and a contingent from French Polynesia.

The U.S. team, represented by eight male and six female boxers, secured 11 medals in all, an impressive haul.

The three U.S. gold medalists appear to have very bright futures if they choose to remain in the sport. They are:

Light heavyweight (80 kg) ELIJAH LUGO (Marrietta, GA)

Lugo has purportedly scored 42 stoppages in his amateur career, the most since USA Boxing began keeping track. The record was previously held by his older brother Nathan Lugo who is currently 2-0 (2 KOs) at the professional level. The Lugo brothers are represented by David McWater (Split-T Management). One of boxing’s most influential facilitators, McWater’s clients include Teofino Lopez.

Middleweight (75 kg) JOSEPH AWININGYA JR (Joliet, IL)

The son of a Ghanaian immigrant who had a brief career as a professional boxer, competing as a cruiserweight, the precocious Awiningya, mature for his age, is a college student majoring in marketing who once aspired to become a nurse like his mother.

Flyweight (50 kg) LORENZO PATRICIO (Waianae, Hawai)

One of eight children. Patricio (our poster boy for this story) comes from a boxing family. Two of his sisters are involved in the sport.

—

In addition to the three gold medalists, the U.S. men’s team garnered two silver and three bronze. The U.S. women managed only three bronze, somewhat of a disappointment. Lightweight Shamiracle Hardaway (Lagrange, GA), considered one of the favorites, fell to England’s Ella Lonsdale in the semifinals. Ms. Lonsdale has a wonderful surname for a British boxer.

—

The best showing was by fast-rising India which had 17 medal winners including three golds. Although boxer Mery Kom (aka Mary Kom) is one of the most popular sports personalities in India, the South Asian nation, the world’s most populous country, has never had a large presence in boxing, amateur or pro. Ten of the 17 Indian medalists, including two of three gold medal winners, were female.

—

Tournament organizers noted that the Pueblo event was the first major tournament in the next Olympic cycle. Left unsaid was that boxing as an Olympic sport is on the ropes (pardon the pun). As it now stands, boxing, one of the original Olympic sports, is not on the docket for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

The International Olympic Committee de-frocked the International Boxing Association, the governing body of amateur boxing, in 2023. The decision was upheld in April by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an agency headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A new body, World Boxing, emerged from the fallout. The Pueblo tournament bore the imprint of the new organization.

The chairman of World Boxing’s “Olympic Commission” is Gennadiy Golovkin who is also the president of Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee. A former Olympic silver medalist whose primary residence is in the Los Angeles area, “GGG” is reportedly fluent in four languages. He is tasked with repairing the rent between boxing and the International Olympic Committee so that boxing can continue to be an Olympic sport. A decision is expected next year.

If successful, it is possible that things may revert to the days when professional boxers were ineligible to compete for Olympic medals.

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Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

Published

3 days ago

November 3, 2024

David A. Avila

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Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

LAS VEGAS-Shades of Henry Armstrong and Baby Arizmendi. If you don’t know those names, look them up.

Floyd Schofield battled his way past Mexico’s super tough Rene Tellez Giron who walked through every blow the Texan could fire but lost by decision on Saturday.

It was a severe test and perfect matchmaking for Schofield who yearns for the big bouts against the lightweight giants roaming the world.

Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) remains undefeated and won the war over thick-necked Mexican Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KOs) who has never been knocked out and proved to be immune to big punches.

In the opening rounds, the Texas fighter came out firing rapid combinations from the southpaw and orthodox stances. Meanwhile the shorter Tellez Giron studied and fired back an occasional counter for two rounds.

Tellez Giron had seen enough and took his stand in the third stanza. Both unleashed blazing bombs with Schofield turning his back to the Mexican. At that moment referee Tom Taylor could have waved the fight over.

You never turn your back.

The fight resumed and Schofield was damaged. He tried to open up with even more deadly fire but was rebuked by the strong chin of Tellez Giron who fired back in the mad frenzy.

For the remainder of the fight Schofield tried every trick in his arsenal to inflict damage on the thick-necked Mexican. He could not be wobbled. In the 11^th round both opened up with serious swing-from-the-heels combinations and suddenly Schofield was looking up. He beat the count easily and the two remained slugging it out.

“He hit me with a good shot,” Schofield said of the knockdown. “I just had to get up. I’m not going to quit.”

In the final round Schofield moved around looking for the proper moment to engage. The Mexican looked like a cat ready to pounce and the two fired furious blows. Neither was hit with the big bombs in the last seconds.

There was Tellez Giron standing defiantly like Baby Arizmendi must have stood in those five ferocious meetings against the incomparable Henry Armstrong. Three of their wars took place in Los Angeles, two at the Olympic Auditorium in the late 1930s as the U.S. was emerging from the Great Depression.

In this fight, Schofield took the win by unanimous decision by scores 118-109 twice and 116-111. It was well-deserved.

“I tried to bang it out,” said Schofield. “Today I learned you can’t always get the knockout.”

Fundora

IBF flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora needed seven rounds to figure out the darting style of Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz before firing a laser left cross down the middle to end the battle and become the undisputed flyweight world champion.

Fundora now holds all four titles including the WBO, WBA and WBC titles that Alaniz brought in the ring.

Fundora knocked down Alaniz midway through the seventh round. She complained it was due to a tangle of the legs. Several seconds later Fundora blasted the Argentine to the floor again with a single left blast. This time there was no doubt. Her corner wisely waved a white towel to stop the fight at 1:40 of the seventh round.

No one argued the stoppage.

Other Bouts

Bektemir Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) didn’t make weight in a title bout but managed to out-fight David Stevens (14-2, 10 KOs) in a super middleweight fight held at 12 rounds.

Melikuziev used his movement and southpaw stance to keep Pennsylvania’s Stevens from being able to connect with combinations. But Stevens did show he could handle “The Bully’s” punching power over the 12-round fight.

After 12 rounds one judge favored Stevens 116-112, while two others saw Melikuziev the winner by split decision 118-110 and 117-111.

Super middleweight WBA titlist Darius Fulghum (13-0, 11 KOs) pummeled his way to a technical knockout win over southpaw veteran Chris Pearson (17-5-1, 12 KOs) who attempted the rope-a-dope strategy to no avail.

Fulghum floored Pearson in the first round with a four-punch combination and after that just belted Pearson who covered up and fired an occasional blow. Referee Mike Perez stopped the fight at 1:02 of the third round when Pearson did not fire back after a blazing combination.

Young welterweight prospect Joel Iriarte (5-0, 5 KOs) blasted away at the three-inch shorter Xavier Madrid (5-6, 2 KOs) who hung tough for as long as possible. At 2:50 of the first round a one-two delivered Madrid to the floor and referee Thomas Taylor called off the beating.

Iriarte, from Bakersfield, Calif., could not miss with left uppercuts and short rights as New Mexico’s Madrid absorbed every blow but would not quit. It was just too much firepower from Iriarte that forced the stoppage.

Photos credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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Results and Recaps from Turning Stone where O’Shaquie Foster Nipped Robson Conceicao

Published

3 days ago

November 2, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Top Rank was at the Turning Stone casino-resort in Verona, New York, tonight with an 8-bout card topped by a rematch between Robson Conceicao and O’Shaquie Foster with the victor retaining or recapturing his IBF world junior lightweight title. When the smoke cleared, the operative word was “recapturing” as Foster became a two-time title-holder, avenging his controversial setback to the Brazilian in Newark on July 6.

This was a somewhat better fight than their initial encounter and once again the verdict was split. Foster prevailed by 115-113 on two of the cards with the dissenting judge favoring Conceicao by the same margin. Conceicao seemingly had the edge after nine frames, but Foster, a 4/1 favorite, landed the harder shots in the championship rounds.

It was the thirteenth victory in the last 14 starts for Foster who fights out of Houston. A two-time Olympian and 2016 gold medalist, the 36-year-old Conceicao is 19-3-1 overall and 1-3-1 in world title fights.

Semi-wind-up

SoCal lightweight Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) made a big jump in public esteem and moved one step closer to a world title fight with a second-round blast-out of Jose Antonio Perez who was on the canvas twice but on his feet when the fight was stopped at the 1:24 mark of round two. Muratalla, a product of Robert Garcia’s boxing academy, is ranked #2 by the WBC and WBO. A Tijuana native, Perez (25-6) earned this assignment with an upset of former Olympian and former 130-pound world titlist Jojo Diaz,

Other Bouts

Syracuse junior welterweight Bryce Mills, a high-pressure fighter with a strong local following, stopped scrawny Mike O’Han Jr whose trainer Mark DeLuca pulled him out after five one-sided rounds. Mills improved to 17-1 (6 KOs). It was another rough day at the office for Massachusetts house painting contractor O’’Han (19-4) who had the misfortune of meeting Abdullah Mason in his previous bout.

In a junior lightweight fight that didn’t heat up until late in the final round, Albany’s Abraham Nova (23-3-1) and Tijuana native Humberto Galindo (14-3-3) fought to a 10-round draw. It was another close-but-no- cigar for the likeable Nova who at least stemmed a two-fight losing streak. The judges had it 97-93 (Galindo), 96-94 (Nova) and 95-95.

Twenty-one-year-old Long Island middleweight Jahi Tucker advanced to 13-1-1 (6 KOs) with an eighth-round stoppage of Stockton’s teak-tough but outclassed Quilisto Madera (14-6). Madera was on a short leash after five rounds, but almost took it to the final bell with the referee intervening with barely a minute remaining in the contest. Madera was on his feet when the match was halted. Earlier in the round, Tucker had a point deducted for hitting on the break.

Danbury, Connecticut heavyweight Ali Feliz, one of two fighting sons of journeyman heavyweight Fernely Feliz, improved to 4-0 (3) with a second-round stoppage of beefy Rashad Coulter (5-5). Feliz had Coulter pinned against the ropes and was flailing away when the bout was halted at the 1:34 mark. The 42-year-old Coulter, a competitor in all manner of combat sports, hadn’t previously been stopped when competing as a boxer.

Featherweight Yan Santana dominated and stopped Mexico’s Eduardo Baez who was rescued by referee Charlie Fitch at the 1:57 mark of round four. It was the 12^th knockout in 13 starts for Santana, a 24-year-old Dominican father of three A former world title challenger, Mexicali’s Baez declines to 23-7-2 but has lost six of his last eight.

In his most impressive showing to date, Damian Knyba, a six-foot-seven Pole, knocked out paunchy Richard Lartey at the 2:10 mark of round three. A right-left combination knocked Lartey into dreamland, but it was the right did the damage and this was of the nature of a one-punch knockout. Referee Ricky Gonzalez waived the fight off without starting a count.

Knyba, 28, improved to 14-0 (8 KOs). A native of Ghana coming off his career-best win, a fourth-round stoppage of Polish veteran Andrzej Wawrzyk, Lartey declined to 16-7 with his sixth loss inside the distance.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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