Chocolatito’s quest for glory

Roman Gonzales, the erstwhile reigning pound-forpound champion, wasn’t supposed to have too much trouble against Thai opponent Srisaket Von Rungvisai ( 42-4, 38 Kos), let alone a life-and-death struggle, which resulted in a controversial loss over the weekend.

Consequently, he lost his chance to make history by equalling or surpassing the 49-0 record held by Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

What was painful about it was that most fans don’t even think that Rungvisai deserved the verdict.

CUT. Things didn’t start out too well for “Chocolatito” who had his immaculate 46-0 record snapped.

He was his usual aggressive self when he ran smack into a sneaky body shot that knocked him down in the first round.

Shocking as that may have seemed, it would prove to be a harbinger of worse things to happen.

A clash of heads in the third-the first of many to come--left Gonzales with a huge gash.

The unrelenting flow of blood throughout the rest of the bout obviously bothered Gonzales, but he fought through attrition and to the eyes of many, did enough to earn the nod of the judges.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as the scores turned in were 114-112 twice and 114-114 which made the challenger the winner via majority decision.

REMATCH. Expectedly, Gonzales’ camp was furious at the outcome, but the indignation that followed could do little to undo the damage that has been done.

To be fair, Rungvisai fought hard and well, and proved himself equal or better to Gonzales in certain aspects, allegations of

dirty fighting aside.

But to many, the opportunity has been lost and not even a victory in a rematch could restore a lost opportunity.

Unfortunately, fate would not have Roman Gonzales be better than Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

VERBATIM. “The Thai is a very lively fighter, but they trained him to come forward with that head, because there were approximately eight head clashes where anywhere else in the world he would have been penalized.” -Wilmer Hernandez, trainer of Roman Gonzales (www.boxingscene.com)

LAST ROUNDS. Are on my batchmate Alan Bacus who recently celebrated his birthday and on his prolific and uber-talented son, my godchild Aljoe Luis Bacus, who recently finished his undergraduate studies as a magna cum laude. Cheers!

I’m sorry I didn’t catch the essence of the answer. The question is if these are the functions that are being performed by the Games and Amusement Board, why are we creating a new body to perform the same function? FRANKLIN DRILON