The Beauties of the Ring

(A Sportswriter's Diary)
By Ric Pinca, April 28, 2009

"There is my name, Ric Pinca, Philboxing.com," I pointed to the young fellow in charge of handing out the ID cards for the press as he looked for my name in his list. It was the day of  "The Flash and the Furious".  The world championship fight between Nonito "the Filipino Flash" Donaire and Mexican Raul "La Cobrita" Martinez, and media men were lining up to get their IDs.

It was 6:30 a.m., not hot enough to lose one's cool but unnerving enough for the young fellow who obviously does not know how to deal with spoiled press people. There was a bunch of them grizzled veterans of the sports press corps who wanted to get in ahead of competition. More were arriving, adding to the throng already asking to be allowed in.

The poor fellow was seated behind a table in a rickety mono-block chair and I was standing, looking down at him. "Pasensya na po kayo hindi pa kami ready," ("Sorry, but we are not yet ready") was all he could say.

"Papapasukin ko na ba sila," ("Shall I let them in") the young fellow asked his equally helpless colleague who could only mutter "Wala pang ("No") instruction ang Araneta Coliseum (management) eh".

So we all stood there outside Araneta's south gate while the guy nervously arranged and rearranged the press IDs. This was our prelude to what was to become the most exciting boxing promotion in the country this year so far.  Yes, I was covering the Donaire-Martinez fight.

After around 10 minutes that seemed like eternity, the go signal to allow us in was given and I was first on the line.

Then another obstacle came up. An Araneta employee stopped me and said, " hindi pa po open ang ringside kaya hindi pa kayo pwedeng pumasok."
("The ringside is not open yet, so you can not go in right now").

A Solar Entertainment (the fight promotions agency) guy came running and said " sa press sila, they can stay at the press room."  And so the march to my first fight coverage continued. And from then on,it was all surpises!

I sneaked a look at the "Team Donaire" room hoping I could catch a glimpse of the fighter but the sight of a burly security guy who could give Lou Ferrigno a fight was enough to douse cold water on my plan.

It was the same at the dressing room of the "Cobrita".  The security guys there were not just burly with muscles bulging.  They were frightening.

So I went straight to the room that had the sign "media" posted on the door. And that's when I knew it indeed was my lucky day. The "round girls" were there prepping themselves up. They're called "round girls".  They're the shapely creatures that prance around the ring to signal the beginning of each round.  There's only one criteria in selecting a round girl.  She must be sexy, oozing with sexiness in fact, that she should elicit cheers, howls and even marriage and sex intentions while she moves around the ring.

Yes, I was with half a dozen, scantily-clad beautiful women in that room. They all looked virginal to me, and I didn't mind ( I don't accept virgins anymore) for they were such sexy creatures I thought I would only see in my dreams.  Eat your heart out, Rod Mijares!

The girls were practicing how to walk around the ring in between rounds. Each step was measured to go with the sway of the hips and a smile that elicits cheers and whistles and even jeers from the crowd. And so I quietly watched as they rehearsed their walks and gyrations and the naughty looks. And in me, i wished I was 20 years old again, and not the aging 55 that I am.