Those “small” cards pack a wallop

Boxing is a spectator sport that excites its market through action-packed fights, bell-to-bell punching and mano-a-mano street brawls. This is what fans look for in boxing events: all of the above and more. But did you know that you can see all these in those “small town” cards? These are the cards that don’t get much media or ad space. And neither will they be seen on TV. If lucky, these fights will be uploaded to YouTube through the efforts of diehard boxing fans or aficionados. No Pinoy Pride. No problem.

We had one of those kind of fight nights last week in “Bakbakan sa Danao,” a fight card put up by Boxings Best Promotions. If the promoter sounds new, don’t worry, it’s just a “front” for literally boxing’s best, an outfit we’ll temporarily hide under the name “ALA.” There were no TV lights, no TV cameras; just the boxing ring and the fans. No more, no less. And the action on top of the ring was great from start to finish. The main event was between the up-and-coming and undefeated Arjan Canillas of Toledo City (and the ALA Boxing Gym) and veteran Rey Labao, a former Philippine lightweight champion who has been to many wars. When we heard about this match-up, we knew this was going to be a good one, and both didn’t disappoint. It was a classic fight between a slugger in Labao and the boxer/slugger in Canillas. Labao took the fight to Canillas, stalked him across the ring and threw a lot counter body punches that were wild and at times low. Each time Canillas would throw a jab-straight combination, Labao would land a left hook to the body of Canillas. It was like this for all ten rounds with a see-saw of punches coming from both sides.

Canillas kissed the canvass in the second round courtesy of a perfectly-timed counter left uppercut from Labao. After recognizing Labao’s power and never-tiring energy, Canillas knew that he had to become the better all-around boxer if he wanted to win. He made adjustments, read Labao’s defense better, moved around more instead of standing flat-footed, and landed the cleaner punches in exchanges. And there were lots of them. Note that Canillas is not the technical boxer in the mold of a Donnie Nietes or Milan Melindo as he also likes to slug it out and doesn’t back track too often. Canillas won via scores of 98-91, 97-92 and 96-93, but the scores didn’t illustrate all the “bakbakan” that took place. It was a night where Canillas went to school and learned a lot as a boxer, thanks to the veteran Labao. We hadn’t seen a fight like this in a long time. But that wasn’t all. The other fights were a mix of surprises and boxing entertainment.

The two fights before the main event ended in split draws that were entertaining and fun. How often does a boxing event have two split draws in one night? The undefeated Vicente Casido was supposed to be favored over journeyman Boyce Sultan, but Sultan pulled a few surprises in scoring the draw. He dug deep into his bag of experience to frustrate Casido over eight rounds. Casido wanted to box it out but Sultan would have none of it, bobbing and weaving to evade Casido’s punches, landing many of his own from different angles, and even showboating. The fight was so close with scores of 77-75, 75-77 and 77-77. How much closer can it get? Casido’s experiment against a veteran didn’t turn out as desired. The other split draw of the night was between pre-fight favorite Raul Yu and Richard Sueno. Yu was technically the better boxer but couldn’t solve Sueno’s unorthodox counter-punching ways. While Yu was the traditional jab-straight-hook boxer who kept his hands up and close to his face for defense, Sueno was the opposite. He had his hands down but was quick enough to land punches from left and right field. No jabs here; just flings from outside which Yu couldn’t see. It was a chess match for six rounds with both sides having their moments. The scores were 59-55 for Yu, 54-60 for Sueno and 57-57. Both split draws were accepted by the crowd and we didn’t heat any howls of protests.

The second bout of the night was another dandy. The favored Virgel Vitor looked good in the first round and most of the second, dominating Robert Awitin until a moment of complacency in the latter part of the second round. Awitin landed a crushing left that sent Vitor to the canvass, looking dazed, lost and on the verge of being knocked out. Thanks to conditioning (and the bell), Vitor survived the round by hugging and running away from trouble on rubbery legs. Awitin pounded away but couldn’t land that one big blow to end it all. The tide then turned in the third round as Vitor recovered to totally outbox a gassed and fading Awitin. A left hook to the body sent Awitin down and out for the count. Vitor was lucky to have recovered quickly while Awitin knew that he missed out on a golden opportunity of stunning the “inilog” of the fight. The curtain raiser was your typical “first fight” for a night when Melchor Roda scored a one-punch knock-out over Edgie Montano. After a feeling out process, Roda crushed Montano with a right straight that spelled KO and the number ten. The preview to the curtain raiser featured five amateur fights that showcased what the future of Cebu boxing. There were a couple of gems in the rough while another already had the moves and skills of a pro. And since amateur fight rounds are only one-minute long, boxers were busy squeezing every second of each round with action.

Over-all, it was one of the best boxing cards in Cebu for 2015 (as a whole). Every fight was entertaining and there wasn’t a dull moment often found in bigger cards. Ironically, this didn’t feature any of the world-rated boxers or those groomed to hit the big time. But that wasn’t a problem, was it? In these small cards will bloom the future world beaters of Pinoy boxing. Small these may be, but a wallop they possess.