Shock and Disbelief in Vegas

Pero Masarap Maging U.P. Betan
by Willie "Tatang" Vergara '67

It all began with a late evening call from a high school friend, Danny Javier of the APO Hiking Society, barely 3 nites before the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. Danny mentioned of a possibility of getting a free ringside ticket for me but I had to wait for the next day for a confirmation.

Not wanting to be disappointed, I decided to forget such a nice offer. But lo and behold! my friend called me at lunchtime the next day and told me to pack up and rush to Vegas. The prices of airline tickets were prohibitive, but what the heck... Because I had to traverse two time zones, it was almost midnight when I knocked on Javier's Mandalay Bay room, the hotel where Pacquiao and his large retinue were also billeted.

Danny and I stayed inside the room for most of the hours before the actual fight, but on the very few times that we were out, it was like meeting Philippine stars like Davao businessman Paul Dominguez, friend of Brod Angie Angliongto and sportscaster/commissioner Chino Trinidad. Our walk towards the MGM arena had to be intermittently stopped by fans who wanted to have their pictures taken with the company I was with.

I was seated behind the scores of press people (maybe on the 31st row), but an unfortunate thing happened at the entrance: MGM management took away all SLR cameras, including the one owned by Chino’s wife, and allowed only the point-n-shoot type. Earlier though, I was told that all cameras would be allowed as in the last fight between Mayweather and Cotto. That explains why I don’t have pictures of the actual fight, and that the pics below were simply picked up from the internet.
 

The fight went the distance although a “Pacquiao insider” said the plan was to finish off Bradley within nine rounds or even before. I even tried to call Brod Ike Araneta and place his bet on this. Be that as it may, the judges went the way of Bradley for some mysterious and dubious reasons. Everybody may already know that the World Boxing Association’s five judges unanimously said that Pacquiao was winner. Personally, it would be more fair to everybody if a formal investigation were launched to determine any fight fixing involving the three judges. There was shock and disbelief right from the very first announcement that Pacquiao won only by a close 115-113. And then the second announcement came… More and louder booing… And the final announcement left the crowd in complete astonishment. Boos and expletives followed. People were not leaving the arena. I could only tip my hats off especially to the Filipino crowds, who comprised more than 50 percent of the audience, for remaining civil in spite of the robbery before everybody’s eyes.

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The Holy Mass scheduled at 11:00 a.m. the next day started 1.5 hours late because the officiating priests waited for Pacquiao (who slept at 6:00 a.m. na raw) to arrive at the venue. The Mass was taking forever because of the over-extended ceremonies that included too many songs by the choir and other individual singers. The nice part of it is that Pacquiao, not known to be a good public speaker, gave a short but crisp speech. He said: “We may have lost but God has bigger plans.”
 

At midday, Pacquiao asked his entourage to check out the same day. Reason: He was traveling to California with his crew to honor an invitation to be a bible speaker. Nagka-problema tuloy ako. Mandalay Bay was still selling their rooms at premium rates, and my host, who was very sick, slept off the remaining time to negotiate with Pacquiao’s business manager for an extra night.

Enter the Brotherhood

At that point when Pacquiao and his entourage were all waiting for their buses and cars at the hotel parking area, I dropped a call to Brod Edwin Garrido. I briefly told Edwin what happened to my hotel accommodations and, on that very minute and without asking any questions, he responded: “Walang problema, Brod. My guest room is free. I will have it cleaned for you.” My friend Danny overheard the conversation. Bilib siya sa ating Kapatiran, kahit noong nasa kolehiyo pa tayo when he was studying in Ateneo… And then at that very minute, Brod Eding and his wife Barbara arrived to pick me for a pre-arranged sumptuous buffet dinner, courtesy of my sponsor Jeje de la Santa and his wife Nesca.

After the buffet, Eding and Barbie brought me to the home of Brod Edwin and Mel, where we had a brief fellowship. I woke up the next morning at 4 AM to catch my plane to Salt Lake City. Brod Edwin extended another favor… He brought me to the airport well ahead of the prescribed check-in time and even surprised me later to make sure if everything went OK with my trip… So, with all such spontaneous show of brotherhood, how can I make a return?

One thing is sure though… MASARAP MAGING U.P. BETA SIGMA. Maraming salamat Brod Edwin and Mel, Brod Eding and Barbara, and Jeje and Nesca.
 

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