Airport fiasco dulls Lopez

Silvester Lopez never went down in his fight against hometowner Thabo (Super Eagle) Sonjica for the vacant IBO superbantamweight crown at the Orient Theater in East London, South Africa, last Saturday but his performance was described as “poor to say the least” by fightnews.com writer Ron Jackson in losing by a sixth round technical knockout.

Jackson said the bout was one-sided as it didn’t seem like Lopez ever laid a glove on the quick-stepping southpaw who was taller, slicker and longer. Lopez, his manager Bebot Elorde and cornermen Archiel Villamor and Tiger Ari were scheduled to arrive in Manila via Hong Kong last night.

Elorde’s wife Arlene told The Star yesterday it was a nightmarish experience for Lopez from the day he left home Monday last week. “The travel agency from South Africa booked their flights from Manila to Hong Kong to Johannesburg to East London and back,” said Arlene. “The problem started when there was a delay in arriving in Hong Kong because of a blown tire in the plane.  But that was quickly fixed. They had a two-hour scheduled wait in Hong Kong before the connecting flight to Johannesburg and could’ve made it if not for the airport supervisor who took his time processing their papers. By the time they were cleared, the flight to Johannesburg had left.” Despite the delay in flying to Hong Kong, they touched down at 10:15 p.m. for the 11:30 flight to Johannesburg. Clearly, the airport supervisor could’ve facilitated their rush to make the connection.

Elorde desperately tried to book a hotel room for Lopez and the others while waiting for the next flight to Johannesburg. No room was available.  â€œBebot and Tiger were willing to sleep in the airport but it was important for Silver to get his rest in a comfortable room,” said Arlene. “Food was not a problem although Bebot monitored Silver’s intake very carefully to watch his weight. Everything was fully booked so they laid out their jackets for Silver to sleep on. They all slept on the airport floor. Bebot made a fuss in the airport explaining to authorities that Silver had to be comfortable since he was fighting for the world title. Nobody cared to listen.”

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The travel agency had difficulty finding seats for the group on the next flight to Johannesburg via Hong Kong. A route via Dubai was also fully booked. Finally, an option opened up to fly via Singapore. So the next night, they left for Singapore then flew 14 hours to Johannesburg and another four to East London. Elorde said if the travel agency hadn’t found a route that night, they would’ve returned home. South African promoter Mzimasi Mnguni of Eythu Boxing was relieved when Lopez and the traveling party arrived in East London last Wednesday.

At the weigh-in last Friday, Lopez had to make two trips to the scales. He was .7 of a pound over the 122-pound limit on his first try and had to sweat off the excess to tip off at 55.34 kilograms compared to Sonjica’s 55.2.

Sonjica said before the fight, he’d never watched Lopez on film but wasn’t worried. “This is the time for me to make a name in world boxing,” he declared on IOL.Sport. “There is no better opportunity to win a world title than this one. My team and I don’t know anything about Lopez but that won’t be a problem at all.” To make sure of no slip-ups, the referee was Andile Matika of South Africa and one judge Ace Manaluza was also from the host country. The other judges were Reg Thompson of the UK and Hilton Whitaker III of New Jersey.

Arlene said Lopez tried to make a fight of it but was in no condition to duel. “We’re not making excuses but remember, there’s a time difference between Manila and South Africa,” she said. “We’re six hours ahead. So Silver had to contend with jet lag and South Africa’s high altitude. It didn’t help that he went through a rough time in getting to East London. Bebot told me on the phone that in the sixth round, he threw in the towel. Why risk permanent injury? Silver was taking a beating. It was useless to continue.”

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According to Jackson, Sonjica sent Lopez reeling back into the ropes with a right-left combination and as the Filipino hung his head down, Matika stepped in to wave it off. It was over at 0:45 of the sixth. Arlene’s version was Elorde raised the white flag to save Lopez from more punishment.

“The problem didn’t end there,” said Arlene. “After the fight, they found out their return flight bookings were cancelled so the travel agency had to rebook them on another airline from Hong Kong to Manila. Of course, they’re all sad coming home. But Silver wasn’t badly hurt because Bebot ended it before things got worse. Silver isn’t giving up. He wants another chance to win a world title.”

Lopez, 25, has now lost in two bids for a world crown. In July last year, he was outpointed by WBC superflyweight champion Yota Sato in Kanezawa, Japan. The setback to Sonjica lowered his record to 20-6-2 with 15 KOs. Sonjica raised his mark to 18-2, with 13 KOs. Filipinos have lost in 25 of 26 world title fights in South Africa dating back to 1994. The only exception came last month when Edrin Dapudong knocked out Gideon Buthelezi in the first round to capture the IBO superflyweight crown in Kempton Park, Guateng.