Miel’s masterpiece

It’s not every time that a Filipino boxer returns home from an overseas campaign successful.

Many times, a fighter opts to see action on foreign soil for the paycheck alone since fighting in Japan or elsewhere beats fighting at home when it comes to purse alone.

So when Miel Fajardo was picked to face local boy Tobias Reyes over the weekend in Galvez, an Argentine city far away from the capital of Buenos Aires, a lot of Filipino fight fans thought he would be fortunate to win.

Firstly, Argentina is a long flight from Manila.

Fajardo’s itinerary, as learned by DAILY TRIBUNE, was dizzying.

Just by looking at it, you’d feel nauseous.

By the time I read the final entry on the ticket, I was already feeling the effects of jet lag.

Fajardo left exactly a week before the fight and only arrived in Galvez 38 hours later.

His flight included stops in Dubai, Sao Paulo and finally in Rosario (Argentina).

From there, he and his team took a two-hour land trip.

Not only that, the Argentine embassy in Manila released their visas at the last minute.

“We were close to withdrawing from the fight,” said Anthony Arieta, who helped Fajardo and his team while in Manila getting ready for the long journey to South America.

Of course, it didn’t happen and Fajardo went on to score a dazzling 65-second knockout of Reyes right before the Argentinian’s home fans.

The win assured him of a shot at the International Boxing Federation flyweight title since the Reyes duel was classified as a title eliminator.

Fajardo’s eye-popping win would go down as one of probably just two huge wins by Filipino boxers in Argentina after Johnriel Casimero’s riot-marred clash with Luis Alberto Lazarte more than a decade ago.

Two notable battles involving a Filipino in Argentina happened in 1956 when Pascual Perez retained the world flyweight crown by beating Leo Espinosa at Luna Park in Buenos Aires.

Then in the early 1990s, Morris East took a flight to the resort city of Mar del Plata where he surrendered the World Boxing Association junior-welter throne to Juan Martin Coggi.

Sean Gibbons, who arranged that fight by way of his expertise and connections, could not help but express his utmost admiration for Fajardo.

“Just a year ago, his career was going nowhere and now, look what’s on the horizon for him,” Gibbons said.

So what Fajardo just pulled off is really something given the things that he had to overcome.

For that, here’s a snappy salute to his courage and bravery.