Posts Tagged ‘boxing’
Cuban Memory Lane: Teofilo Stevenson
5 Jan 2010I was surfing around my sports stuff today and came across this clip of legendary boxing great, Teofilo Stevenson.
I am a secret fan of boxing. I actually dig the shit out of it, but don’t often admit it because I am, after all, anti-violence etc. Also, lately boxing is not that interesting–there are no real personalities and boxing on the whole seems to be suffering from the same thing every other sport is suffering from: too many people thinking they can do that–and really nobody can. Diluted talent is what I think it’s called.
Watching this old clip made me remember why I love(d) boxing so much. There is beauty in the perfect hit, but even more so, there is humanity in the story of sports. Remember the olden days when the story of a person’s life mattered just as much as his/her successes (or lack of) in sports? And not in a “Tiger Woods is the cleanest and neatest non-Negro” sorta way–but in an earthy-never-gonna-keep-me down sorta way?
Images back during Teofilo Stevenson’s time were not carefully crafted by handlers–but pretty much all that the athlete had outside of his/her skill. The human being still sits underneath the crafted image these days (as Tiger Woods has shown us)–but for some reason we are addicted to the idea that our athletes are perfect beings that make no mistakes. Back in the old days, the mistakes and the situations we didn’t understand and the drama behind the scenes were what made us love them.
I wonder what caused that change. And I want the old days of sports to come back.
I am not a sports fan save the occasional futbol game (and no I am not talking Superbowl football), pero even I knew who Jose Chegüi Torres was. I would listen to the first Latin-American world light-heavyweight boxing champion discuss not just race in sports on radio station WBAI, pero identity politics and power in general as he was a regular guest on many Latino themed shows.
From Ponce, Puerto Rico, Chegüi Torres passed away on January 19th.
From a tribute written by Julio Pabon:
José “Chegüi” Torres was one incredible role model for anyone that took the time to speak to him. The fact that he was loved in the Puerto Rican communities of the 60’s is a matter of record. He was an inspiration for every Boricua sweating in the factories of New York struggling in a city that did not understand our political plight.The 1960’s were a very rough period for the Boricua’s living in this city. It was the height of the struggles between Italians and Puerto Ricans that was manifested in many schoolyards, rooftops and parks in this city with casualties that would equal those of many undeclared wars that received no international attention. It was West Side Story in every community where Puerto Rican’s were moving into and Italians were holding on to.
In was during that volatile period in our history that Chegüi Torres got his long awaited chance to fi ght for the World Championship that was being delayed for no other reason except that he was a dark skin Puerto Rican. Finally in 1965 Chegüi was given the opportunity to fight the reining Champ, Willie Pastrano the pride of the Italian’s.
What people might not know is that Chegüi not only negotiated for himself for this important fight, he also negotiated for the entire Puerto Rican community. Chegüi explained it to me this way: “I knew that every Puerto Rican who could afford it was going to go to Madison Square Garden to see this fight. I also knew that the other half of the Garden (sitting in the lower expensive seats) was going to be filled by Italians. I wanted to do something special for our community so I negotiated that I wanted the Puerto Rican national anthem to be played before the fight.”
This might seem trivial today, however, historians would tell you that no other countries national anthem, other than the American national anthem was ever played in a boxing match, especially if both fighters were American citizens.
Pacquiao Beats the Golden Boy De la Hoya
7 Dec 2008
Last night Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao beat the Mexican American Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya. In fact, it’s being said Pacquiao beat De la Hoya into retirement, even though no official announcement has been made.
It was clear by the third round that De La Hoya was going to need a miracle to reverse the pummeling he was taking.
Pacquiao displayed every punch in the arsenal, raking the Golden Boy with straight lefts that nearly closed De La Hoya’s left eye and stunning him with hooks, jabs and uppercuts.
It was so savage of a beating that it was hard not to feel sorry for De La Hoya. At the end of the bout, a thoroughly beaten De La Hoya trudged across the ring and met his one-time trainer, Freddie Roach.
“You’re right,” De La Hoya said to Roach, who had prepared Pacquiao brilliantly. “I don’t have it any more.”
Hola!
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