Sporting Chance

MERIDA - What's striking about this quaint Mexican city in the Yucatan peninsula is that it's so Filipino.

Luisito Espinosa, who fights hometowner Guty Espadas, Jr. for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title at the 7,980-seat Poliforum Zamna here tonight (tomorrow in Manila), said Merida reminds him of Davao City.

There are no high-rises. Downtown is quite provincial - the stores sell only local goods like shoes, slippers, and native handicrafts. The roads are narrow and unsmooth. Traffic is light - horse-drawn calesas still pick up passengers and you see lots of Volkswagen vintage Beetles, big unairconditioned public buses, and white mini-taxis. The airport is much like the Davao terminal. The weather is hot and humid. Even the people look like Filipinos - there are white Spanish mestizos and brown descendants of Aztecs. And they're just as warm and hospitable.

Another point of similarity is the mostly Catholic population - about 80 percent of the city's 725,000 inhabitants.

Merida is a 1 1/2-hour plane ride from Mexico City, some 1,500 kilometers away due southeast. It used to be a large Mayan enclave known as T'ho. When the Spaniards came in 1542, the colonists dismantled the Mayan pyramids and used the stones to build the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, the oldest church in Continental America. The Cathedral still stands today on the east side of the downtown plaza across the municipal hall.

The Yucatan peninsula is a tourist haven. It is the center of "Mundo Maya," a tourism and regional development project launched by Mexico and Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador to rediscover the Mayan civilization. Yucatan's tourist attractions include Mayan temples, colonial cities, beaches, cenotes, wildlife reserves, museums, and ancient ruins.

History books relate that the Mayan people were erecting magnificent temples and palaces when Europe languished in the Dark Ages. Their civilization has been traced back to 20,000 years. Over 1,600 Mayan archeological sites have been unearthed so far and many more lie hidden in the forest.

The food in Merida - known as the "White City" because when the sun shines, it leaves a bright almost incadescent glow on the Yucatan capital - is also familiar to Filipinos. Favorites include longaniza, cochinilla, beans with pork, panuchos, quesedillas, tacos, and burritos.

Merida Boxing Commission head Jose Manzur said you can walk the city streets anytime without fear of getting mugged. It's safe and crime-free.

Manzur noted that it's been 18 years since Merida hosted a world title fight. WBC President Jose Sulaiman described Merida as "the cathedral of Mexican boxing" and said it has a rich boxing history to preserve. Merida has produced four world champions - Lupe Madera, Juan Herrera, Freddy Castillo, and Guty Espadas, Sr.

The Espinosa party is billeted at the Holiday Inn and Hyatt Regency which are next door to each other. Espinosa shares a room with assistant trainer Eric Itliong and masseur Ramon Factor. His children John Louie and Janica are in another room with wife Mariecherie and her mother Lilia.

Espinosa's Mexican trainer Robert Aguallo brought his daughter Cristina, 12, father Ruben, Sr. and brother Ruben, Jr. to watch the fight.

Last Tuesday night, Games and Amusement Board (GAB) Chairman Dominador Cepeda and Commissioner Hermogenes Arayata arrived.

At a press conference in the Hyatt Regency Hotel yesterday, Espinosa brought the house down when he issued a statement in Spanish.

Espinosa's statement, translated in English:

"First of all, I would like to thank the people of Merida and the Mexican government for hosting the championship fight. I would like to acknowledge my opponent Guty Espadas who just like me has a father who is a boxing legend. That makes this fight interesting because we are both well-trained and this bout is a turning point in our boxing careers. I promise to give the fans their money's worth - I will come out fighting, boxing, no running, and no wrestling. I will do my talking inside the ring, no media hype, no jive-talking nonsense. May the best man win and God bless us all."

In the same press conference, Sulaiman urged Mexican fans to show Espinosa the respect he deserves as a former champion. He called Espinosa a role model for the youth and an admirable human being in and out of the ring.

"They are like my sons - I wouldn't know whom I'd like to win," he continued. "Both are great fighters. Luisito lost his title on a disputed decision and it's only fair that he now has the chance to get it back."