Johannesburg, South Africa – It was a long and tiring 18-hour trip from Manila to Johannesburg which I took alone yesterday arriving in this city at the tip of the African continent at about 9 p.m. of Tuesday, June 11 (3 a.m. Wednesday, June 12, Manila Time).
North Cotabato boxer Edrin “The Sting” Dapudong, who is fighting Zulu warrior Gideon Buthelezi, and cornerman Jeff de Guzman arrived here one day ahead of me and were able to attend the fight press conference held at the posh Emperor’s Palace Resort and Casino earlier yesterday.
The long trip was made comfortable by the generosity of a young ground stewardess of Emirates Airlines, Chris Espanola Docadio from Bagontapay, M’lang, who was at the check in counter in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 yesterday morning and who facilitated that my ticket is upgraded to Business Class.
On my own, I have never travelled Business Class and I was never comfortable taking the Mabuhay Class in the local flights even when I was Governor and government funds were used to buy the tickets.
Business Class tickets are very expensive but the comfort and amenities offered are worth it.
Chris, who proudly introduced me to her co-workers at Emirates Airlines counter as her “Governor,” finished her college education from the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in 2009 and is one of the very few lucky young people from North Cotabato to be employed by the international airline company.
The Business Class accommodation was good up to Dubai but from Dubai to Johannesburg, I was back to the Economy Class where the service was still good and I was able to stretch my body during the 8 ½ trip because there was a lot of vacant seats.
The 18-hour trip also gave me the opportunity and the time to watch a lot of movies which I missed. I realized how many good films which I could have watched with my wife and children had I missed.
Given a choice, I would have preferred the Manila-Hongkong-Johannesburg route but since our tickets, including our accommodations and food i, are provided by the South African boxing promoter we just have to take the itinerary they prepared for us.
After a late night dinner with Jeff de Guzman in an Indian restaurant in the resort complex, I dropped like a log.
Today, Edrin Dapudong, Jeff de Guzman and I will meet and talk about our strategy to win the world boxing title and avoid the injustice committed by two of the three judges in the first meeting in November last year.
In their first meeting on Nov. 10, 2012, the fighter from Barangay Pag-asa, Mlang mauled Buthelezi throughout the fight and knocked him down in the 9th round. But two of the three judges scored the fight in favor of the South African.
Our strategy is to prevent the ringside judges from determining the outcome of the fight using their pencils.
“It’s Knockout or Nothing” and Dapudong understands this perfectly.
(Photo caption: A big poster showing the fight card on Saturday June 15 is displayed at the lobby of the Emperor’s Palace Resort and Casino. I am shown here with a South African girl who willingly posed for this picture. Photo by Jeff de Guzman)
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