Monday, January 23, 2006

They are Stealing Our Bolo Punch!!!!


My fellow Filipinos, history is stealing the bolo punch from us. Many of us know that the bolo punch was invented by our very own, Ceferino Garcia (born 26 August 1912 — died 1 January 1981). But the Encyclopedia Britannica has given the credit to a much younger Cuban boxer. Even the International Boxing Hall of Fame gave the credit to Kid Gavilan of Cuba.
Here is Britannica's entry:
Gavilan was born only in 1926, my friends. That meant Ceferino is older by 14 years.
"byname of Gerardo Gonzalez Cuban professional boxer and world welterweight champion. Gavilan is credited with inventing the " bolo punch," which was a combination of a hook and an uppercut. He said he developed the punch by cutting sugarcane during his youth in Cuba," the Britannica wrote. Oh crap.
"Gavilan is the man credited with inventing the bolo punch. He said the punch, which was half hook and half uppercut, was developed by years spent cutting sugar cane with a machete in his native Cuba," the IBHOF also said, which may be why they have yet to enshrine Ceferino in the Hall of Fame.
Garcia had been inducted to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1981. The native of Tondo boxed in 116 contests, won 57 by knockouts; 24 by decision; boxed 9 draws; lost 20 decisions; lost one on a foul and was knocked out 5 times. He was managed, during the final years of his career by George Parnassus.
According to Britannica's newest rival, the Wikipedia, Ceferino Garcia is the real inventor of "bolo punch."

"Ceferino Garcia is said to have been the inventor of the bolo punch. He, Kid Gavilan and Sugar Ray Leonard are widely recognized as three of the best bolo punchers in boxing history. When asked once how he came to develop the wide sweeping uppercut, Garcia said when he was a youth he used to cut sugarcane in the Philippine Islands , with a bolo knife, which he wielded in a sweeping uppercut fashion," the Wikipedia said.
Wikipedia, however, still ahs no bio on Ceferino so boxing fans out there, update. Rolando Borrinaga wrote a story on him in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1994. It's in the web.
I also saw this in the web:
"The boxer Ceferino Garcia is credited with developing the bolo punch in the late 1930's. When asked how he developed the punch, he said it came from the upward swinging motion he used to cut sugarcane as youth in the Philippines. The bolo punch is usually used as a feign to distract the opponent from another punch, but if struck by a bolo punch, you will probably be knocked out. It was used effectively as a punch in the ring by Kid Gavilan in the early 1950's. Two of the most famous cases of a fighter using the bolo punch were when Sugar Ray Leonard avenged his loss to Roberto Duran and when he defeated Thomas Hearns in their second fight, but in these cases, Leonard only used the punch as a distracter. If practiced enough, the bolo punch may be used effectively under certain conditions, but it is not taught by reputable trainers since it is practically useless and is usually only used to "showboat" or to be different from other fighters."
Light heavyweight worlkd champ Roy Jones Jr is also one of the recent practitioners of bolo punch.
The article of "Ring, Rhyme and Reason," an article by Stephen Acunto, started this way:
"As an older member of the boxing fraternity, Mike Jacobs of the 20th Century Sporting Club came to mind recently. Mike's office was in the New York Hippodrome, which no longer exists. At that time there was no such thing as alphabet soup groups, pseudo titles, pseudo ratings or pseudo belts. Mike had only eight divisions in boxing to work with. There was only one champion in each division and everyone knew their names. One of Mike's most famous events was the Carnival of Champions at the Polo Grounds. The bouts started about 7 PM and were on the radio. I recall those bouts vividly. On one particular card there were four title matches. The opening bout was for the bantamweight championship; Harry Jeffra of Baltimore vs. Sixto (Sixth Son) Escobar of Puerto Rico. Jeffra was the victor. The great Barney Ross, the "Chicago Jabber" took on Pilipino, Seferino Garcia, famed exponent of the bolo punch. (Although Kid Gavilan used that blow later on, the originator of the punch was Garcia.) Seferino developed this punch because he used to cut sugar cane with a bolo knife in his native Philippine Islands, thus developing a sweeping upper cut punch motion. Ross earned the verdict."
I hope IBHOF and Britannica accept this great historicla mistake and give back the bolo punch to the Filipino or else we will hack them.

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