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BOXING FEVER ... MEXICAN STYLE
Tuesday 9 July 2002
A poll of Mexican fight fans has revealed that Middleweight slugger Javier "Yepe" Aguirre is the most liked and admired boxer in the nation. Taken on ESPN's Deportes website during the past week, over half a million votes were registered with Aguirre receiving 39.2% of them.
The news has apparently angered Olympic Featherweight gold medallist Salvador Sanchez who, like Aguirre, will be competing in the upcoming International Boxing League World Championship tournament. Sanchez was a national hero after his exploits in Sydney, returning home to a wave of adulation and fanfare. But his ego has gotten the better of him in recent times and a much-publicised brawl involving his entourage and that of his arch rival Vicente Saldivar back in April appears to have damaged his popularity.
Aguirre's Olympic adventure was not as fortunate as Sanchez's. Going into the tournament as one of the favourites, he was controversially eliminated in the quarter-finals against the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan. The final score was 21-19 but it appeared that at least half a dozen solid scoring shots from the Mexican went unrecorded.
Aguirre has more or less put that disappointment behind him and his reserved, humble attitude has really enamoured him to his countrymen in the time since. Amongst the ranks of Mexican fighters in the IBL, the amiable 21 year-old is the one that they are really hoping to see win a World Championship. That may be quite a difficult task though in what will be an absolutely stacked Middleweight division. It's been rumoured that Aguirre will be placed in what may be called the "North American West" group for the regional qualifiers meaning that he'll be up against a number of fighters who impressed in the selection trials, such as the Californians Terry Norris, James Toney, Bert Lytell and Freddie Apostoli. But the native of Acuna played down any concerns when speaking on the matter recently.
"Why should that worry me?" he said. "If I want to become World Champion, I'll have to beat the best in my division so it won't matter when I fight them. There is much more to the Middleweight division than the west coast of America, so if I get worried about fighting those guys I might aswell quit before the tournament even starts."
It's now less than two weeks until the IBL unveils the makeup of its tournament groups and to say that boxing fever has gripped Mexico would be an understatement. It would not be a stretch to say that this country's passion for the sport is stronger than anywhere else in the world and the men who represent it in the boxing ring during the coming months and years will be carrying the nation's hopes on their shoulders. No doubt, it will be at times quite a burden to bear.
While Aguirre was named the nation's most liked fighter, Sanchez was not that far behind, as he received 33.6% of the votes in the poll. The 18 year-old does have quite a hardcore following, especially in his hometown of Tianguistenco where he is revered and where something of a "Sanchez cult" has formed since his Olympic triumph. It's likely that his followers will be just as upset by the poll result as he is and it wouldn't surprise if this leads to some disturbances in the coming days.
It's already been confirmed by International Boxing League Chief Director James Molk that the Featherweight division will have a Mexican regional group. It will feature both Sanchez and Saldivar, aswell as a pair of other talented teenagers in Ruben Olivares and Ricardo Moreno. It goes without saying that this particular group will be one of the more interesting ones to follow as the league's tournaments progress...
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