And that wasn't even the main event. Evening capped off by Celestinto "Pelechin" Caballero's defense of WBA Super Bantamweight belt against Andres Pastrana. The referree stopped it in 8th with Caballero far ahead. This was one of a bunch of really fascinating fights at Gimnasio Roberto Duran on Saturday. Caballero is a treat to watch. He fights at 122 lbs and is listed at a very questionable 5'11". 6'1" is closer to reality. Nevertheless, he reminds a fan as no one so much as Floyd Mayweather, Jr. He uses the same footwork and has the same kind of devil-may-care style of evasion as Pretty Boy. Like Mayweather, Caballero is a very fast puncher. He had thrown nearly 7 times as many as Pastrana had by the stoppage. Caballero, though, is taller and lighter so his Mayweatherness is more Mayweatherish than Mayweather. He also has the softest jab I've ever seen. He uses it for rhythm and to disguise the power of his hooks and crosses rather than for attack. Very smooth.
Panama is kind of the cradle of lightweight fighters, so it is not surprising that the technical proficieny on display tonight was very high. Roberto Duran has set a very high standard and those that have followed have lived up to it. Caballero is very stylish but his trainer is very much in the Panamanian tradition of training for precision and sound fundamentals. That beloved featherweight Whyber Garcia can be so fundamentally sound with the most bizarre style I've ever seen is again a testament to boxing in Panama. Garcia is the only fighter I've ever seen whose money punch is an upper-cut, thrown with either left or right. There aren't that many fighters who even have an upper-cut with the dominant hand anymore and for those who use it, it is used as maybe their 4th punch. Garcia is very patient, never committing himself to any of his weaker punches, but rather prefers to wait to thread the upper-cut through and back off. This is much cooler to watch than to read. Trust me. He won a split-decision over Rojas in a very active 8 rounds. Rojas is just your typically Panamanian conventional fighter with a huge chin and perfect fundamentals. It must be very weird for any conventional jab-cross-hook fighter to prepare for and face Whyber Garcia. He's a fan favorite but is buried so deep in the featherweight rankings that he's not likely to show up in America anytime soon.
Two very promising young flyweights, Luis Concepcion (10-1) and Ricardo "The Mathematician" Nunez (10-0) won impressively tonight, Concepcion more so, in less than one, with all the backflips and pizzazz, though The Mathematician at 19 has way more long-term potential and is very likely to show up in the States sooner rather than later. How much is Michael Buffer going to enjoy announcing the start of his bouts???
Watching these flyweights do their thing so dominantly really showed me just how great my host for the evening, Roberto "The Spider" Vasquez, former WBA Flyweight Champion is. Panama just spits these excellent young flyweights out like a printer and down here Flyweight is the glamour class. For Vasquez to have accomplished all he has by 24, beating all of these kids and getting to the top, is remarkable, his loss of the belt to Sakata in Japan notwithstanding. He told me he's fighting Jean Piero Perez in late Summer of 2008 (Winter in USA) as tune-up for Sakata3 in France.
"The Spider" could not have been more gracious a host and I confess to being a little star-struck and then doubly and triply so by meeting Roberto Duran and Rockies closer Manny Corpas. Just tragic that there wasn't so much as a souvenir T-shirt on which to get autographs for my son. Que lastima! Also, too bad that Vasquez broke his cheek three weeks ago in training and had to withdraw from a bout with Tirado scheduled for tonight.
This all does bring up a more general political point. A kind of evening like this is great but not terribly out of the ordinary down here for me. So, I always have odd feelings afterwards. I want to say "this rules, fuck you, see you in Hell" in the general direction of the Bible School Girls because after all it was made clear to me that "assholes" like me weren't welcome anymore. I'm not anti-American, though. Just a realist. In a lot of ways this lifestyle is better than the one up there but I'd like to think someday I'd be welcome. That makes me sad. I know that when the Euro hits 3 USDs, the conversation will be a different one. It will be "come back, Kelso, all is forgiven." That's fine. The real question, though, is whether I will want to forgive.
Kelso's Nuts love you
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5 comments:
I'm curious about "The Mathematician." When I was in college and grad school in Mathematics, I didn't see much in the way of fisticuffs, even in the bars.
If I were a fighter, I think I'd do some trash talking about Zeno's Paradox and then kick the dude in the balls while he was scratching his head.
I've only been in Panama for a transit of the Canal in a cruise ship and then a land tour to El Valle de Anton, but I liked what I saw. When it becomes too expensive to live here, I might be looking for another country, preferably a warm one.
About what you'd expect. He turned pro after high school. Very good math student and also a pretty level-headed and disciplined kid, given neither to big displays of ego nor baroque flourishes. He and Vasquez don't get along for some reason. I could speculate but I won't bother.
Trash talk isn't a big part of the culture. In fact, it's kind of antithetical to the culture, and boxing is as important to the culture in Panama as movies are to the USA.
Fans seem to like Concepcion's effervesence because it's so different but he's the exception that proves the rule of SPORTSMANSHIP. The greatest applause of the night was for BOTH Garcia and Rojas following the announcement of the results. Two old friends. Very gentlemanly. You got the sense that the win was nice but both were pretty proud of the work. Vasquez is extra-mellow and very serious. You'd think a 24 year-old with one belt already in the glamour weight-class would be a strutting peacock.
I've been so busy since I got here, I've barely left the Paitilla/Obarrio/San Fransisco/El Cangrejo string of neighborhoods! Never been to Ancon nor the main.
It's pretty nice here but I don't think I'd have bothered if I didn't already speak Spanish. It's a much richer experience to immerse yourself in the vibe here.
A lot of Americans seeking low-cost luxury prefer to live in gated-communities out of town and never associate themselves with the local scene. I couldn't live that way. Not that I even have the option. Americans aren't hardly checking for me. They've already made the decision to duck Spanish-speaking urban folk. I offer them nothing interesting and vice versa. Christ, I only have one American friend.
well, when it comes to boxing, all i can do is reiterate what Sgt. Schultz so earnestly stated: I Know Nothing.
But kelso, what you missed this saturday evening into sunday was the first snow of the season. an inch or two at most.
this "country living" is quite different from living in the city ... i have to consider such things as raking leaves and shoveling snow.
not entirely sure how i feel about that ... i kind of think i prefered having my monthly 'maintenance' payments cover those things ... guess i'm in my own kind of exile up here.
'self-imposed' exile is what i meant to say ...
Snow doesn't sound like so much fun. I'm used to warm weather although the equatorial winter and spring are brutally hot, humid and rainy.
All exile outside of, you know, like Napoleon-style is to a greater or lesser extent self-imposed. It comes down to deciding the net switching costs are not as great as the net staying costs.
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