On May 19 I returned to Colon's Panama Al Brown Arena for the
first time in too long, for a night of boxing, this time by Colon Boxing Productions,
now that it seems that Panaprom's preferred venue is Panama City. These promoters
put on a show with similarities to and differences from the competition's, with
the bottom line a night of fun that surely must have been profitable as well.
The night's main bouts were supposed to have been Colon native
Guillermo Jones vs. Mexican Víctor Maciel for the FEDELATIN super-middleweight
title, and a Women's International Boxing Association world championship bout
in the 140-pound classification, between Colon's Ana Pascal and Colombia's Liliana
Palmera. Both of those bouts did indeed take place, but the day before Jones
showed up too heavy at the weigh-in ceremony, at least the third time in his
career that he has done this. Thus, his bout lost its title implications and
the commission withheld his money until a decision to be taken later.
Word had previously gone out through the media of Jones's shame,
but people showed up en masse anyway. By the time that boxing was underway,
the building was filled almost to capacity.
The first unusual thing about this professional fight crowd was
the percentage of women, nearly one-third, mostly arriving coupled with men,
but also in female groups of two to five. It's not unusual to see a large minority
of women at Golden Gloves tournaments, where the amateurs' mothers, sisters
and girlfriends show up along with the male-dominated regular batch of fight
fans to cheer their young heroes on. However, ordinarily a pro fight audience
is no more than ten percent female. On this night women who usually don't attend
boxing match showed up to see and support the women's sport.
This was Saturday night, and most of the women dressed up for
a night out, some of them decked out to the nines. A couple had their heads
covered, in at least one case in keeping with her Muslim religion.
However, the fashion show on this night was predominantly male.
One Muslim showed up in a kufi cap and a few Rastas had their dreadlocks tucked
under knit caps, but the main fashion statement was to look properly macho.
There were plenty of Bert Shugar-style Panama hats, in many cases with appropriately
loud bands. There were many snap-down caps and gorras, variously worn
traditionally or backwards. One guy came in his satin WBC jacket, one guy in
a black Nehru suit with heavy gold accoutrements, and lots of men wore tight
shirts to show off their muscles. There were only a few men in suits and ties,
an uncomfortable choice for a nearly full arena with no air conditioning.
Then, of course, there were plenty of police and bombero uniforms
present, though this was the best-behaved boxing crowd I have experienced in
a long time and the representatives of our public safety institutions were able
to enjoy the boxing without being called upon to deal with any emergencies.
How orderly was this night? One indication was the presence of more kids than
I have previously seen at events in Panama Al Brown Arena, and all of them were
well behaved.
The preliminary bouts got underway with a knockout, a TKO, a
split decision and a unanimous one. Then two youngsters whom I had seen as amateurs,
Chiriqui's Roynel Caravelo and Panama City's Ricardo Córdoba, put their
short but undefeated pro records on the line. The two pugilists of the 120-pound
variety put on a well-matched, busily back and forth six-rounder, but Córdoba
seemed to have more steam at the end and the judges gave him their unanimous
decision.
Then, with plenty of nationalistic symbols, music and fanfare
came Maciel and "Felino" Jones, the latter drawing a fair amount of boos for
the indiscipline revealed at the previous day's weigh-in. The bout itself lasted
by a minute and 21 seconds. Jones danced around a bit, Maciel got off a jab
or two, and then the hometown pug floored the Mexican. Maciel got up and wanted
to continue, but at the end of the standing eight-count the ref found him too
disoriented to continue. It was a demonstration that, despite his repeated troubles,
Jones is a talented athlete. After the bought Felino posed for a photo with
his entourage, which seemed too large ——— the manzanillos
have been the bane of many a more illustrious fighter than Jones, and just may
have something to do with the problems that have beset this young man, whose
professional career began with so much promise.
The seventh and final match of the night was for WIBA's first-ever
championship in the 140-pound category. It began with a flag ceremony and the
singing of the Colombian and Panamanian national anthems, which revealed that
among the crowd there were plenty of Colombians on hand to cheer their countrywoman
on.
This was a serious athletic competition, not an opportunity for
male chauvinists to watch two cute young things batter one another, nor for
the curious to catch the daughters of famous male fighters in action. Both women
arrived at this confrontation on the basis of their ability alone, and even
if much of the male audience felt it important to look masculine for their night
out, there were no wolf whistles or other degrading sexist insults.
As it was, "cute" would not be a word you'd use to describe Ana
Pascal. The muscular fighter shaves her head and looks absolutely ferocious.
Once the bout began, Pascal lived up to her appearance. She came
out the aggressor from the opening bell, and at the end of the first round she
knocked Palmera to the canvas. The Colombian got up as the bell rang, and her
manager called her to the corner before the ref got a chance to go through the
usual inquiries to determine if she was still lucid.
Palmera went the ten-round distance, fighting bravely but unable
to sustain any sort of prolonged exchange with Pascal. The Colombian, who surely
would have been decked again had she been so unwise as to give the Panamanian
an opportunity to land a combination, repeatedly put her head down, moved past
Pascal's hooks and jabs to get in single blows, then clinched.
Pascal showed apparent scorn for both her opponent's tactics
and for the ref, whom she accused of failing to control Palmera's head butts
or clinching. At one point she shoved Palmera away, drawing the referee's admonition.
At several other points, Pascal tauntingly let down her guard and walked slowly
to a neutral corner, even turning her back on her opponent. Palmera didn't rise
to the bait, but neither did she figure out a way inside her opponent's defenses.
Even when she clinched, she took many an overhand, side-armed or uppercut body
blow from Pascal in the moments before the ref separated the boxers.
It was a completely dominating performance by Pascal, now according
to the WIBA the best in the world. Yet what if Ana Pascal learns how to "float
like a butterfly" in the manner of the young Muhammad Ali? In that case the
opponent who tries Palmera's tactic of lowering her head and rushing in will
be sidestepped and bashed upside the head.
The judges gave Ana Pascal their unanimous decision, all by ten-point
margins in the ten-rounder scored under the ten point must system. The judges
didn't say, but I rule similarly, giving Palmera a round and scoring another
as a draw, but giving Pascal a two-point margin in several of the asaltos.
It may be awhile before the boxing world takes the women's sport
entirely seriously, but the athletes do and people should. Ana Pascal is a great
athlete, totally ferocious and a sight to behold. She also has room to improve
as a boxer, even if it may be hard to find an opponent that's much of a match
for her.
