Nick Giongco’s October 19th article published on the Manila Bulletin entitled “Pacquiao’s weakness exposed” is quite compelling.
It vividly exposed the long ignored issues in boxing – loyalty amongst team members hired to do a specific job.
But, loyalty, or rather the lack of it is certainly not surprising given the present mentality in the sweet science that is no different from today’s corporate world where employees move from one company to another and in the process exposing the weaknesses of the former employer so they will look good to the new employer.
And, the old cut-man, Joe Chavez is no different.
Chavez who used to be a mainstay of the Team Pacquiao was not hired to be on the Pacman’s corner in his fight against Miguel Cotto on November 14th at the MGM Grand.
On the contrary he will be working the corner of Miguel Cotto that night.
Since he is now on the opposite corner, Chavez has been telling the Cotto people all the little secrets he learned while he was working for Pacquiao perhaps thinking it may disadvantage the Filipino spitfire. Thus, he will look good to the Cotto people.
Now people can say that is okay. It’s part of the game.
Bull!
Chavez’ behavior is a classic example of loyalty gone bonkers.
And, it certainly exposed the character of the man.
It is a classic example of what the almighty dollar can do even to the character of an old supposedly venerable cutman who has been in the business for so long.
It would be perfectly understandable if he tells the Cotto people about the “weakness” of Pacquiao. After all, he is now employed by the Puerto Rican.
However, he should have been more discreet and kept it away from the media.
But alas, he didn’t. Thus, an issue about his character was exposed.
The behavior of Chavez is a lesson learned for boxers from the Philippines that fight in foreign lands, the US included.
Filipino boxers should drop the long existing colonial mentality that makes them favor more popular cut-men of foreign origin over cut-men of Philippine ancestry who are just as good as anybody in the business and whose only fault is lack of exposure.
They seem to forget that popularity does not always translate to ability to get the job done, and get it done well.
Filipino boxers and their handlers should perhaps take a lesson or two from Tony Aldeguer and the Team ALA from Cebu.
ALA boxers have fought in many places including the US and Mexico. But I do not recall seeing a non-Filipino cut-man in their corner. Now Tony Martin, the Englishman from Las Vegas could be an exception. Yes, he is British, but he is married to a Pinay and is Filipino at heart. Even his kids speak Cebuano.
In fact, Tony Aldeguer himself goes out of the way to seek Filipino cut-men to work the corner of ALA boxers instead of hiring someone who is a-non-Pinoy.
Chavez’ behavior may have an unexpected redeeming value. It is a wake up call for Filipino boxers fighting in the US.
In particular, it opened the eyes of Filipino boxers, managers and promoters to the presence of good Filipino cut-men in the US some of whom have medical background and thus the training and experiences to handle cuts and even intra-oral injuries the proper way.
On top of that, they are not only knowledgeable about infection control but are conscious about it as well 24/7.
Certainly, you will never see these Filipino professionals act as cut-men without using universal precautions to protect themselves and the boxers from potential deadly cross-infections or more so, keep a Q-tips (used to apply coagulant on the cuts) in their mouths or held on top of their ears.
