MORALES LIKES BOXING, PREFERS DEFENDING GAY RUMORS
February 4th, 2010 By Frances Martel
HOMOPHOBIA FEEDING OUR BOXER POOL?
Unbeaten Ciso Morales
New York, NY- What would you do if you were repeatedly accused of being gay? Some people come out of the closet, while others honestly declare their heterosexual preferences. Others still keep silent and tell the snooping parties to mind their own business. Upcoming Philippine fighter Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales (14-0, 8 KOs) discovered he had enough talent to start a boxing career. Morales took to the largest newspaper in his country, the Manila Bulletin, to tell the world that boxing turned his life of ambiguous sexuality around. “Those who called me gay before are now my closest friends and they now show me some respect,” he beams. So what to make of a morality tale where our sport is the means to gay liberation (in the sense of boxers being liberated from being called gay)?
SHADY JOURNALISM FROM MANILA BULLETIN
The snippet in the Manila Bulletin is a curious nugget of journalism. For one, its author, Dennis Principe, seems not to do much probing in Morales’ professional life. The fact that Morales is fighting for the WBO bantamweight title on Valentine’s Day is little more than a footnote at the end of the piece. Did Principe take the time to contact a boxer and talk to him only about that one time someone called him gay when he was little? No talk of strategy or his thoughts on his upcoming fight? Principe is probably not a sports writer, so it would be unfair to expect an in-depth analysis of the upcoming matchup with Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KOs), but there is something amiss about the amount of effort it takes to contact a fighter for a story in the Philippine equivalent of the New York Times for something so trivial.
GAY BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
As for Morales’ gay problem itself, it is a strange way to introduce yourself to the public. Perhaps it is an attempt to endear himself with a hyper-masculine boxing audience, but wouldn’t those individuals care more about his style than such a mundane aspect of his young life, anyway? There are two main possibilities about what circumstances created this story: either this is a PR faux pas on Morales’ part to try and create talk about him (which, if I’m writing about him, may not be all that much of a faux pas), or he gave a lengthy interview including these comments that was heavily edited for maximum interest to the audience of the Bulletin. Either way, he isn’t the first or the last fighter to take up the sport to take on bullies, nor is he the first fighter accused of liking to do a little more to other men than beat them up. “Gay” is a common slur in the underbelly of the boxing community, though it is becoming decreasingly common among professional fighters. Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) famously became incensed with Hasim Rahman (45-7-2, 36 KOs) for “starting with that gay stuff,” and, most famously, Emile Griffith (85-24-2, 23 KOs) killed opponent Beny “Kid” Paret (35-12-3, 10 KOs) in the ring in large part do to the latter’s persistent taunts centered around Griffith’s sexuality. But Lewis was alert enough to imply Rahman was undignified for his language, and the Griffith case was nearly a half century ago (and Griffith did end up coming out). Not to mention that being accused of homosexuality wasn’t what attracted either of these fighters to the sport to begin with. They were boxers who, in the middle of his career, faced the accusation. Neither of them were known as “they guy people used to call gay” straight out of the stable.
INSULTED BY DECLARATIVE, KIND OF BENIGN STATEMENT
Another fascinating thing about Morales’ comments on the matter is that he does not go into details of the names he was called, other than “gay”. Perhaps this is a factor of the nature of Tagalog (which I don’t speak; please leave me a comment if you do and have a linguistic answer to this), where the insult does not translate into anything more offensive than “gay.” There is no evidence he was called a promiscuous gay, or an AIDS-ridden one, or a drag queen, or anything more specific than having an interest in other guys. Perhaps it is self-censorship when describing his experiences in public. In any case, the accusation seemed grave enough to make him turn to a proactive solution, rather than simply denying it and adding a simply “not that there’s anything wrong with that” and moving on with his life.
SAME OL’ SAME OL’ IN THE SPORT
Of course this is the norm in most cultures, and of course it is the norm in boxing. Stories of young men taking up the sport to enhance their defensive abilities against schoolyard enemies are ubiquitous. There are two very prominent worrisome aspects of this story. The first is that love of the sport is being given the passengers’ seat to the vague concept of “defending manhood.” While many in the sport will argue that the beauty of boxing is precisely to watch fighters defend their manhood (in the traditional, gender-related sense, not the Harvey Mansfield asexual definition of manliness exemplified by Margaret Thatcher), this kind of speech should not be condoned in any sport in 2010. To see it in the pages of a major international newspaper, in an article that does not speak to the abilities and professional experiences of the fighter at hand, is a disarming fall back into the dismal realities of acceptance in the boxing community.
Boxing is a sport for everybody who cant take it, even if a gay as long as he can stand the competition so why not..
Philippine society is generally tolerant toward gays. Gays are prominent in business and entertainment; they host television talk shows. But upper echelons of society and religion, which are the ruling class, are very much conservative. Though gays have gained de facto acceptance in everyday life, there is not a chance of a gay marriage ever becoming law, for example. To call someone gay is not a slur. Thus, one can call out loud a gay friend in the street as: “Hoy, bakla!” and never offend as it would shock in the streets of San Francisco. Morales’ journey from gay to straight boxer will not raise eyebrows. It is just another inspirational story of a poor or hopeless man who made good.
Hi Frances, i like your acticle. Its a curiosity in our Filipino culture. hehehe. Dennis Principe’s way of journalism might be unusual to you but it was just suitable for us. Filipinos dont talk too much on strategies, predictions and ambitous promises specially when there is great probabilty that it will turn out otherwise; we speak most of the time in a safer side. So, Dinnes was just right by asking Ciso Morales of the things that made him what he is now rather than asking what he has to make him more recognizable in the society.
Morales narrated the challenges he had by those childhood friends who called him gay. Calling gay by a child to another child in our place is just like saying dont be a weak person, STAND FIRM and STRONG. (because for us, gays are weak). This is usually uttered to a person specially if he has the personality & capability trait of a leader but he is not using it.
So, Morales ended up by saying they become his closest friends and showed him respect just because of the simple reason, Morales heeded their call to become their leader in their small association.
It is just a matter of knowing the cultural background. hehehe. Nice reading your acticle and hoping to see more from you. Rgds.
gay is commonly used terms in the Philippines if you refuse to fight, for instance we have arguments and to settle it down we fight for it mano a mano if you refuse, aside from calling you coward to ignite more anger and start the fight we’ll call you a Gay or “BAKLA” it doesn’t really mean you’re homosexual it is more like a COWARD so Morales instead of fighting coz he is thin he trained boxing for self defense (just like Donaire) and there he was discovered and now he can be a world champion he wants to prove that he is “BRAVE ONE”
and by the way there is no record in Philippine history that there is a single Gay boxer it’s strictly for Men there’s a fight of Gay boxing here for fun it really funny watch it in youtube
Hey Frances Martel! I think you misunderstood the whole Morales being gay thing. It also helps to research first on the culture of the person. Morales as kid was being bullied by other boys in their hood. Here in the Philippines the bullies will ask you to fight them, and if you don’t they will call you “Bakla” or Gay which is SYNONYMOUS to “Chicken” or Coward and not literally means your a homo sexual. Morales growing up turned to boxing to boost his confidence to face his bullies. That’s why he says that his childhood bullies are now his friends and earned his respect because he probably would beat them down to a pulp if they ever name call him again. Again it helps to research on the culture first and do not be fooled by the literal meaning. I can’t help but laugh at your comprehension on the whole thing.
there was once a gay muay thai boxer. He was accepted by his countrymen.
There was a gay kickboxer in Thailand. They even made a movie about him entitled “Beautiful Boxer”
Good write-up Mr. Martel. Keep it up!
I initially thought you were talking about Erik Morales when I read the title of your article, Frances. Little did I expect that you were actually writing about my paisano Ciso Morales…
Morales is not a Tagalog-speaking Pinoy, although I’m sure he understands and speaks that language, too… but my point is that like I, Ciso speaks Bisaya (Visayan) as his native tongue. So much for that… Gay is “bayot” in our dialect… ‘though it also means gay (i apologize if it is an insult to use such a word… Pinoys, in general, don’t really know which words are offensive in America or not)or homosexual, it is usually used as a reference for cowardice, especially when it comes to bullies trying to badger someone… I might have misunderstood your article, which is no surprise considering our major cultural differences, not to mention the satirical nature of your writing style, but perhaps you’re implying that Ciso has prejudice/discrimination against the gay community. Please correct me if I’m wrong… but I must say that that’s definitely the case with Ciso. Unlike in the United States, the “bayot tease”, is quite common, especially to kids. It’s not really meant to demean the gay community, although indirectly, that might have been the case…
By the way, Dennis Principe is a very good boxing analyst in my humble opinion, for whatever it’s worth. It’s always nice to read your articles… compelling, provocative and well-written.
Best regards,
Reylan
I’m sorry… a little typo… I meant that’s NOT really the case with Ciso… My apologies.
I think what Ciso was implying when he said that he used to be called Gay is the word BAKLA, which does mean gay but amongst real boys or men is like a taunt,to be called bakla is like being taunted, being called a coward, a wuss, a panzy, to agitate the victim to fight back or react.. So lost in translation it sounded like he was being called gay.. Big misunderstanding here.. And I really hate to admit it but theres a lot of gays in the Philippines , like zombies, they dont reproduce but they seem to grow in numbers.. Shame to that, I think gayness is a mental disability.. thats my opinion.. any gays out there wanna react and get mad go ahead. But I stand on my opinion they’re confused humans..lol
I have known gay ring fighters, and just because they’re gay doesn’t mean they’re not mean.
Gay soldiers have killed more Talibans than maybe some “macho” soldiers. Many gays have muscles even straight men envy. Being gay doesn’t mean they can’t carry heavy loads nor hit hard. On the contrary.
They can suck up punches as well. No disrespect but gay fighters don’t shock me. Anyway, Ciso Morales is a sucker.
Waaat?? So intead of saying “I’m gonna knock you out” gay boxers will say “I’m gonna scratch you!” Lol!
Maybe what Dennis Principe means really is that Morales is happy, i.e., being given the rare opportunity to fight on big time North American TV and live audience. Unless of course, if he, Principe, is really is hot on Morales like a Pavlov’s dog.
Ciso Morales is Cebuano/Bisaya which is another major tribe (in PH) mostly resides in Central Region of Philippines and as well as southern part and not Tagalog which are mostly from the Capital Manila.
But to enlighten the author a bit. Being called gay when growing up per Cebuano/Bisaya tradition (mostly whole Filipino as well) doesn’t really tackle the homosexuality part.
(In PH if people notice you have much of the feminine side in you as a kid, literally your gay and thats it.)
But on Ciso’s part, I believe what the term gay suggests was him of being a coward, who always walk away (ducks) from trouble whenever he faces it. In Filipino communities, mostly towards kids/juvenile if grown ups see you do this frequently especially when someone comes to your face another kid perhaps and challenges you (mostly fist fights), its definitely not a respectable attitude. Thus earning you the the brand “bayot” yes a term for gay, but also a term used for cowards when especially in taunts.) And when you are branded as such, its just like losing your status/respect in the community.
Imagine for a kid growing up and the whole neighborhood disregard you, and to say that the neighborhood in PH is the same as how American Movies show how close-knit those people in the counties are, where everybody knows everyone.
Just see how Filipinos, reacted to Mayweather Jr. when he ducked Manny Pacquiao, and to say that Pacquiao is also Bisaya as well.
floyd mayweather is the queen of all queens! haha
Mr. writer you made chaos out of nonsense topic Gay means to Filipino is coward simple as that
it’s like I want a settle for a fight then you refuse I will call YOU “BAKLA” just to fight me because a man refuse to fight mano a mano we called him “bakla” or gay that’s why the term GAYWEATHER WAS BORN IT MEANS COWARD FLOYD
Hi Mr. Writer a sort of advice, You must researched More, CZ you don’t fully understand our Language…
Ciso Morales is hardly newsworthy so I’ll give you three guesses as to why Martel has made an article out of him. Hint: read the tone of some of her past articles.
Ciso Morales is not gay
I’ve always wondered about Alberto.
Well written…… being gay in the Philippines is now accepted unlike in the 70s but I do believe that C. Morales is not gay. Just in any other countries it is common among bullies in the Philippines teenagers in particular to taunt their peers of being gay.
Here are some personal advice for pacman:
1.) Ask the NSAC to ban XYLOCAINE not just 1 week before the fight but all the time.
2.) Ask BOB ARUM to help u in #1.
3.) If #1 is done, agree to Mayweather’s demand for a RANDOM DRUG TEST 14 days before the fight (only if #1 is done).
4.) Fight Mayweather in December so that you can rest your tired body after the may election.
Mr. Writer, can you please send this to our “FIGHTER OF THE DECADE’… thanks a lot.
Thanks for the info, guys! Language nuances are sometimes never understood by outsiders no matter how much we may study them, so I’m glad to hear from native speakers. I think something major was lost in translation in that Bulletin article, since “gay” is the standard term in English and really isn’t something you use to insult people unless you’re in junior high. I still think Principe wrote a terrible article because he didn’t ask Morales anything about his boxing career, which was weird.
So: if you were a gay man, would you call yourself “bayot” or “bakla”? Or are these only words you would use if you were trying to call someone a sissy? I’m curious to see if the writer of that article meant something that didn’t transfer to English.
Thanks again! Reylan: Thanks for letting me know about the difference between Bisaya and Tagalog– I was honestly out of the loop on that one. Stickitin: I support making the boxing community more inclusive (which is why I want to know more about Filipino culture since it’s so important to boxing culture now), and also I love the gays (they make things look pretty). Was I ever trying to hide that?
Also, everyone, just in case: I’m not a guy. I don’t mind if you call me “Mr. Writer”, but I don’t want anyone to be under the wrong impression
Hi Frances, thanx for being open-minded to our comments. For the suggestion that there might be a lost in translation for the word “gay”. Actualy, there was non coz, gay is litterally an English translation of “bayot” in our dalect (Morales’, Pacman’s and Donaire’s dialect)and “bakla” for the tagalog speakers. Morales was indeed called out as “bayot” by his childhood friends. But “understanding between the lines” knowing the cultural background of the speaker and of the writer, “bayot” or “gay” was simply meant to be as “coward, or weak or yellow”.
Yes, if someone is homosexual or gay, he is most appropriately called “bayot” or “bakla”. But because of our culture that we consider homosexual or gay or bayot or bakla as WEAK, so coward people are called the same just because of being WEAK but not because of their sexual orientation.
Dinnes Principe’s interview with Morales was just an inspirational to the Filipinos that someone who was weak at the start is now knocking on the door of greatness & recognition. It was just an inspirational story for the Filipino readers which is very well understandable in our point of comprehension even if it was written in English form. Best rgds & God bless.
I could go for some Bakla-va!
I am a male lesbian
It is the asian in him that makes him seemingly gay…but who knows he could be one of those who are hiding behind the boxing gloves of denial…and who cares if he is gay anyway? there are a lot of homosexuals in a testosterone-teeming field of sports…do we have to name names now? Delahoya, Gayweather, Valentino, Pedro Gonzales (smile Pedro!!!)…etc., etc.
What’s up with u pinoys? I hope it a bunch of teenagers writhing here. Because if ur grown men talking dumb shit like this. Let me ask 3 questions and please only serious responces! Why do u guys think PAC is above testing? Lance Armstrong the greates cyclist of all time was acussed of doping, never tested positive and still took extra test for years to prove himself, not that he had to but to shove it up his critics azz. 2 tell my how a cortisone shot is a ped it won’t make u stronger faster or give endurance, have any of u had a cortisone shot? That shit hurts!!!! 3 why do u people act like u know he’s clean u don’t sleep with him. I know the majority of u r catholic, the bible says all men sin and fall short of the glory of god. I personaly don’t think he’s dirty and I pray not. But to see people follow anybody blindly is borderline insane
Robert rios.Nobody said that Manny is above testing. Look man! try to see the big picture. He will do the testing required by the commission and some. That include blood, urine and hair, you name it he’ll do it, but he will not do it during the peak of his training. Now some of you may think it’s useless unless it’s RANDOM blood testing.I think you guys are WRONG! from what i understand when blood is drawn to be tested most of it will be save to be compared to the next set of blood. We know that until now all the blood test and urine test all came up negative for any PED,EPO or any kind of steriod. Now Mr. Robert rios why don’t you get a blood test( are you a righty or a lefty? I’m asking because it does matter) and start imitating Manny’s workout or training. Start hitting the heavy bags first and then get a friend if you have one and spar with him. Oh before i forgot try to use your left hand more.
Archie, Manny backed out of the “random” testing. Therefore, STF up until he does! Floyd & Shane have him boxed into a corner. If he doesn’t take the tests, he won’t get fights with Mosley or Floyd.
Pedro you STF up!I didn’t say he didn’t backed out on random testing stupid. I said he will do all the testing required by the commission. Read my post clearly before you insult me with your stupidity!
Hey Archie, the commission has been beaten by Holyfield & Mosley. Why would you want to adhere to testing that has been beaten already? I guess you might want to if you had something to hide.
Random blood testing has been beaten before also,so what’s your point? PBF is so skilled STERIODS CANNOT beat him. Why is he so scared? Anyhow the pac/mayweather fallout resulted in two good match ups. Hopefully they both win and maybe fight each other in the fall. Pedro, try not to be pessimistic and hope either this two HOF fighters fight one another. Either PFB drops the olympics style drug testing or Manny agrees to it. I don’t really care i just want these 2 to fight each other. Old school peeps got to see Leonard/ hearns, Hagler/hearns, Duran/Leonard live. I want to see Pac / Mayweather live too.
I’m glad we can throw rocks back and forth Archie. Thanks!
LOL. No problem.
If Martel wants to out gay boxers she should ask *** ***** ******* why he is in the closet.
He is married. I too saw the photos. But there are pictures of the Klitschko bros. looking a bit odd. Its ***’* business if he is or not. Let people **** who they want, whenever they want.