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Ana Julaton: Boxing queen of the Philippines
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Ana Julaton honored - Photo Courtesy of Asiancemagazine
The Philippines have long been known as both a very humble, and extremely sacred nation, led by many who only remain afloat by virtue of their own blood, sweat, and tears. Having such a strong penchant for spirituality, the quest to rise above all else not only serves as a way to help the common man, but in the end, also a way to honor him.
With such an honorary background and a work ethic to support it, there's no question as to why or how the land of the Philippines recently witnessed the emergence of a few star pupils. In America, Basketball has Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Golf has Tiger Woods. But as great as those men are, few can argue they are little more than the face of their respective sports.
The Filipino nation, on the other hand, now follows the cadence of a man who serves as the face of his entire country, (Manny Pacquiao). And as we all know, for every true King, there must be a Queen to walk beside him. The woman most would identify as the lead for this role aside the sports current P4P champ is none other than Ana 'Hurricane' Julaton. The latest Filipino to take the boxing world by storm, as well as represent a nation that has slowly become very key in the sport.
In a recent one-on-one interview, speaking to the modest and always giddy Filipina, one thing became obvious right away. Contrary to those patented "Girl in the Life Magazine" looks, she's far more than the beauty she posses, and even more humble than her fans would suggest. When asked directly about her seminole moment in the sport, becoming a world champion with only 7 fights, the Filipina was still in awe, stating that "it still hasn't quite sank in".
When you consider that she had only faced two opponents with more than 10 fights, yet conquered a champ who had more than 40 victories and only two losses in her last 30 outings, there's no effort that could ever stand out any more than such a performance. And to top it off, it should be duly noted that the woman she conquered was led by famous boxing trainer Buddy McGirt, who is arguably one of the best in the game.
Julaton credits her ability to leap through the ranks and defeat such a high level of competition to her team, led by emerging boxing trainer, Nonito Donaire Snr.
Although it was Donaire Snr. who served as her official 'guiding light', it was another countryman, Manny Pacquiao, and his famed trainer Freddie Roach, who also played an active role leading up to this point in her career. Ana spoke of the encounter by saying "when I spent time around Pacquiao and Roach in their camp, it taught me so much about the fight game. It also taught me how to balance the whole lifestyle, as I was able to see how Manny carried himself in a personable way behind the scenes, yet was always gracious when dealing with those who supported him. From his work ethic to his playful side, I just felt a need to just soak it all in".
The irony in the recent success of Julaton comes in the fact that as a child, she had zero interest in the sport. By her own admission, "when (her) family got together to watch the big fights, (she) was in the other room playing with toys, and totally disinterested".
She then added, "as I got older and got into it, I learned what a science it truly is. It was through martial-arts, which my Dad got me into when I was younger, that I learned discipline; and it was boxing that taught me hard work and how to pay close attention to details and directions".
Rarely in life do we ever see a person make history on a platform which they once refused to watch, let alone participate in; but the story of Ana Julaton goes a long way in showing each of us that there are no dreams impossible.
To prove how intriguing this whole scenario really is, I would have to go back no further than a week ago, when I visited a local Chinese restaurant with my 4 year old son, where he cracked a fortune cookie open that read: "Proper preparation and proper timing equals proper success". In the case of Ana Julaton, that proper preparation was the first step, and when you look around and see the emergence of a thriving Filipino nation, there's no question that there could be no better time than the present, for her presence is truly a gift to us all - which speaks volumes for her current level of success.
(The Examiner would like to thank Ana 'Hurricane' Julaton for the one-on-one and wish her great prosperity)
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEK747), Facebook, and Myspace).
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