MAGIC MIKE

A huge plate of soft-shell tacos still looked appetizingly delicious by the time the interviewer arrived for the 11 a.m. meeting at a classy American restaurant in Eastwood City for an informal Q&A with one of Philippine boxing’s fastest-rising facilitators.

But the man of the moment didn’t mind the more-than-an-hour snag as he rose from his seat and shook hands with the newspaperman who had missed a turn that proved costly.

That faux pas sent the scribe driving all the way to Makati so he could find a better route to evade traffic and wheel his way back to the Pasig-Quezon City area to finally get things going.

“Don’t bother. That’s okay,” said the big guy right in front of him, his infectious smile lighting up the popular eatery.

Then an attendant came and asked for additional orders.

There was a momentary pause.

“Give us a double serving of pork chops,” he said.

The writer nodded and handed over the menu, delighted that he and the big fella have the same thing in mind.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” the scribe said, mimicking Meg Ryan’s eternal line during a landmark scene at Katz’s Delicatessen in the 1990s smash hit “When Harry Met Sally.”

Then they settled down to business.

Actually, the conversation wasn’t tight and strict.

They hit it off right away as they had been together a few times overseas during boxing events, in good and even in bad times.

But in reality, it’s not difficult to like Mike Pelayo, the manager of world-rated Filipino flyweight Dave “Doberman” Apolinario, who is on the verge of getting a crack at the International Boxing Federation 112-lb crown.

His introduction into boxing happened inside one of the classrooms at the Ateneo de Manila University.

“During our breaks, we would do boxing and to make it look like we were just fighting, we kind of put a sense of legitimacy to it by bringing gloves,” Pelayo said with a hearty laugh.

That way, it camouflaged boxing’s violent nature.

As he got older, Pelayo found himself attending to gentler things like acting as a student manager of the Ateneo men’s basketball team.

“We were the ones who handled the schedule of the players. We took care of their academic commitments like enrolling them in classes that would enable them to attend them and also fulfill their duties as a player,” Pelayo, a true-blue Ateneo student from grade school to college, said.

In 2006, he earned a degree in AB Interdisciplinary Studies (leadership strategy and communication) and saw himself presiding over the family business of garbage hauling.

“We collected from three provinces, Pampanga, Laguna and in Cavite (Bacoor),” he said.

It was literally and figuratively, a dirty business to operate.

Pretty soon, he collaborated with Cucuy Elorde of the famed boxing family to open Elorde Katipunan, which grew to two branches in the Libis area alone.

But his metamorphosis from a plain boxing guy to one of the guys came to the fore when he met JC Mananquil, who heads SanMan Boxing, one of the country’s most active promotional outfits.

“His mother is my Ninang during my wedding,” Pelayo said.

From there, a friendship blossomed and these days, Mananquil and Pelayo are like Batman and Robin.

Though he only manages one Filipino boxer in Apolinario, Pelayo swears that he is into boxing and that his involvement is for the long haul even if he is attending to a booming construction business and even a promising chicken barbecue joint named Vito’s Barbecue.

“I got a recipe from my grandmother who used to cook pork barbecue. I used the same marinade in chicken and so far, the response has been tremendous.”

Still, Pelayo insists it is extremely hard to veer off from boxing.

The excitement and allure are hard to resist.

“Whenever there is a big fight and you are part of the ring walk, the electricity is extraordinary.”

“It’s like you are about to get married…a very happy feeling and once the bell sounds, that’s when you realize that the wedding is underway and there is no turning back,” he said.

But just like any business, managing boxers requires a lot of sacrifices and patience.

“If you are managing a boxer, it’s just like you also have another son because you take care of his needs. The food, his nutrition. Everything.”

“If your boxer has a problem, it is also your problem as well. When you look after your boxer, you also look after his family.”

“If someone gets sick and needs hospitalization, you provide. If someone dies (in your boxer’s family), you also lend a helping hand,” Pelayo said.

Despite these, Pelayo hasn’t thought about retreating and leaving boxing to focus on his business.

With the retirement of the legendary Manny Pacquiao, Pelayo believes Philippine boxing has to remain relevant.

“We gotta have someone that will be idolized by the people,” he said.

And that someone could be his fighter Apolinario.

Ladies and gentlemen, raise a glass for Mike Pelayo.

Salud!