UNLIKE THE fights of Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr., Drian Francisco, Brian Viloria, Gerry Peñalosa, as well as a slew of other Filipino boxing champions and wannabes, the battles of many other Filipino fighters remain relatively unheralded.
They take place mostly on weekends in multipurpose centers or plazas in towns that can afford to host a boxing promotion. More often than not, the boxing is the highlight of a fiesta.
If a fighter is lucky, he can get on TV as there are at least three to four boxing programs in search of the next great Filipino champion. He will try his utmost to come up with an impressive showing, since the video of tonight’s fight could be his ticket to the next big pay day.
We usually get to know their exploits later on in small newspaper items, usually just two to three paragraphs long or in passionate websites that are up to date and followed by equally avid fight fans.
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Take for example Danilo Peña’s defense of his Philippine super flyweight crown last Saturday in the lakeside town of Binangonan, Rizal.
Peña is a 5-foot-3, 31-year-old southpaw from Albay and built like a pint-sized tank. He is more aptly called “Pit Bull” because he is a single-minded brawler that pummels opponents into submission with thundering hooks and body punches.
Before his mandatory title defense against Richard Olisa, a fighter he had already beaten twice before and drawn with once, Peña has won 22 of 31 fights, lost seven and drawn two. He has won 10 via the KO route but you wonder why not more opponents drop to the canvas given his brute force.
Maybe the science of boxing refuses to conform to Peña and demands that punches be thrown more methodically than with wild abandon.
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Peña is not unfamiliar with points being deducted from his score because of his head-first, then-punch approach. But he knows only one way to fight: Answering the bell charging at his opponent with gritty determination.
He will stay inside his opponent all the way, scratching and clawing with his mitts.
Moy Lainez, the astute boxing analyst, revealed that the late boxing manager Rod Nazario tried to have Peña box rather than brawl. The experiment in the gym failed as Peña ended up like a jazz dancer being asked to do ballet.
Changing Peña’s style would be too late in his career and his handlers are right in going with what their fighter has.
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Peña retained his crown via a technical unanimous decision. He was accidentally head-butted in the tenth by Orlisa and ring physician Mae Bañez stopped the fight.
She explained that the cut above Peña’s right eyelid was an open wound that bled profusely.
The Binangonan crowd hooted and hissed, disappointed with the turn of events.
You will almost always find a warrior like Peña in these provincial cards: Rugged and unpolished but never short on heart. He is a dangerous foe because his unrelenting style can nail you with a haymaker that you may never recover from.
This October, Peña will fight Japanese Takuya Kogawa for the vacant OPBF super flyweight title. Kogawa’s record is 16 wins and a single loss and is six years younger than Peña. Interestingly, he also won over Olisa via unanimous decision two years ago.
It remains to be seen if Peña’s gung-ho approach will take him far up the ladder of fame and success. He will take raps about his style, be deducted points, absorb nasty headbutts and win in whatever way they come as his warrior’s journey is all his own.
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