Uncovering Mexico

Uncovering Mexico

Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.

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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2009 > February > 04 > Entry

Panama’s boxing royalty

By Jeremy Schwartz | Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 09:53 AM

While in Panama City, I attended the Panamanian boxing commission’s annual awards banquet at a swank hotel in the city’s glitzy downtown. It’s been a year for the history books for Panamanian boxing, with no less than four world champions (in a country of just 3 million) and a handful of other contenders with title shots in coming months. Not since the heady days of the 1970s and the rise of Roberto Duran has boxing-mad Panama been blessed with such an abundance of talent.

The best fighter in Panama right now is the spectacular Celestino “Pelenchin” Caballero, a super bantamweight who won the country’s fighter of the year award (that’s him in the middle with fellow champions Guillermo Jones, left, and Anselmo Moreno). If you’re a boxing fan, treat yourself to some of Caballero’s fights on Youtube if you get a chance. His destruction of Steve Molitor and brutal annihilation of Ponce de Leon give goosebumps. Most in Panama believe it’s just a matter of time before he becomes a worldwide star on the order of Manny Pacquiao or Shane Mosley.

Panamanians talk boxing like Americans talk baseball or football (taxi drivers will talk your ear off about their favorite fighters if you broach the subject). I can’t imagine a country with more boxing connoisseurs than Panama. One local boxing scribe told me the country virtually shuts down during title fights, with people glued to their TV screens.

Speaking of Duran, we took an unscheduled taxi ride through his notoriously dangerous home neighborhood, El Chorillo. While well-intentioned Panamanians had warned us away from El Chorillo since our plane touched down, one brave taxi driver took us through an impromptu tour of the neighborhood as he searched for a short cut to avoid Panama City’s horrendous traffic. We found ourselves driving past hulking tenement buildings and abandoned cars before driving headlong into a wild block party being broken up by the cops. The neighborhood bore the brunt of the 1989 American invasion (that took out strongman Manuel Noriega) and saw nearly all of its houses destroyed. In their place the government erected the massive apartment buildings, which our driver warned were filled with drugs and guns.

Most of Panama’s champions come from such dangerous places. “Chemito” Moreno, a bantamweight champion, told us his burning desire to be champion came from his upbringing in the San Miguelito neighborhood, a place he said was too dangerous to take his daily runs. Despite his status of champion, Chemito has kept his feet firmly on the ground, and was amazingly humble and gracious when we interviewed him after a workout.

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