Boom Boom must have learned from De Leon

The biggest advantage Boholano boxer Rey "Boom-boom" Bautista has in his coming August 30 fight against Eden Marquez was his first round knock out loss to Daniel Ponce de Leon. Ironic? Here is why it is so.

For very good reasons, we were so hyped to see Boom Boom matched against the best in the world with De Leon, being the then world champion, at the top of the heap. Before his ill-fated match, Rey lived up to his adopted ring name.  There was, many years ago, a fighter named Ray Mancini, who, not too many people knew was, in fact, pedigreed. His style was quite predictable because it simply was one of relentless attack, no reverse gear. With power on both hands, he would flatten his opponents with either one punch or a plethora of punches, and whack them to submission. As he pressed the assault, the crowd would vocalize each of Mancini's blows with a "boom", then "boom" then more "boom" especially when his hooks landed smack on the body of his opponents. It then came to pass that he was associated with the cadence of the audience's chant. 

Rey, like his Italian-American namesake, had, up to the time he squared off with De Leon, an impeccable record. His prior fights ended in spectacular kayo victories in the earlier rounds. Even in the few wars that went beyond halfway of scheduled number of rounds, Bautista showed incredible power. Indeed, sturdy Africans and some highly fancied Mexicans suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of this guy from Candijay, Bohol, my birthplace.

Bautista also had a champion's heart. In two earlier contests against rated Mexicans, he got hit by vicious blows and his knees buckled under his own weight. Where other boxers would eventually wilt under fire, he stood his ground, exchanged heavy bombs with heavier bombs and came out winner.

This Pinoy boxer, lulled by his seeming aura of invincibility, thought he was more than prepared to face the lion, rather, De Leon. But, he was wrong. There were, at least, two chinks in his armor. Psychological pride and being technically unprepared.

Bautista was rocked by the first right hand straight delivered by Daniel. It was still first round and I surmised that he got disorganized by the blow. Yet, braggadocio (I want to equate it with pride) came in. "How dare you!" must have rung in his mind. Believing, perhaps, that he could give the same dose, he merely stared at his opponent in a futile search for an opening where others would have danced away from further harm.

De Leon saw the golden opportunity and seized it waiting no second longer to rain an unimaginable flurry of his wicked punches. On the other hand, and this, to me, is important, Bautista had no skillful way of handling the situation. Clinching, which is a part of a boxer's array of defenses, would have been his escape route. But he was unprepared in that score. It was his weakness not being able to find a way to stall the volley of punches. So, the inevitable happened.

Mr. Aldeguer, who knows boxing like the lines of his palm, saw what took place. Those were two glaring weaknesses that no previous Bautista opponent succeeded to expose. It was a blessing that the learning came when Mr. Aldeguer's ward was barely out of his teens. There was more than enough time to correct them if only to let his prized pug achieve his destiny.

This Saturday, August 30, Rey, is an experiended boxer. He will continue to pack his God-given power in his mitts to steam roll over his opponent but, in case, the latter is better a pugilist than the trickle of information about him, our boxer has the Daniel Ponce de Leon experience to remember and make all of us Cebuanos proud in him. I sure hope that you will be there with me in support of our compatriot.

* * *

Email:[email protected]