Who said the big names wouldn’t be on view to the world at these Commonwealth Games?
Step forward, De Niro and Marvelous Marvin, two fighting men of the Pacific who really caught the eye on the first day of the boxing program in Glasgow.
Alas, though, despite their gutsy displays, Niue’s De Niro Pao didn’t exactly prove to be ‘Raging Bull’.
And neither could Nauru’s similarly splendidly named Marvelous-Marvin Canon quite offer us an impression of the late, great middleweight Marvelous Marvin Hagler as the pair both bowed out on points decisions.
Still, the sight of their names on the start list attracted plenty of interest on Friday at the SEC Centre with Pao, a New Zealander with a Niuean heritage, earning plenty of new fans as he only narrowly went down to a points defeat in the 65kg category to Lesotho’s Pooana Kohahli.
“Well, Robert De Niro is my mum’s favourite actor, so she named me after him,” explained Pao.
“It’s funny because he’s my grandad’s favourite actor too, and he always tells me about him, but I’ve never actually seen his films.”
With a name like that, surely it had to be either acting or boxing? “It was my dad. Back home, he was well known for boxing, so I kind of followed in his footsteps and then took my own path in the sport.”
Marvelous-Marvin Canon didn’t really have much of a choice about his sporting future even though he explained he’s the most celebrated sportsman in Nauru, an island of 12,500 folk which is the third-smallest country in the world.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m famous in Nauru. I’m a football player there, rugby, diving. Spear fishing too, yeah I’m a spear fisher – I’m holding the record Wahoo catch, world record, 31kg. Bigger than me!” explained Canon.
“When I walk around Nauru everybody says, ‘hey, it’s Marvelous-Marvin!’ It’s my official name, it’s on my passport. My dad was a big boxing fan, loved Mike Tyson and Marvin Hagler.”
He’d certainly have been proud of Marvelous-Marvin’s Commonwealth debut in the 55kg category, with Canon feeling he was a mite unlucky to lose a narrow decision to Mauritius fighter Fabrice Valeria, who he’d knocked down in the second round.
And like his namesake, the multi-talented Marvelous one intends to be back. “Maybe give me some three years,” he beamed, “and you’ll show me in the ring, holding a belt!”
This AAP article was made possible by support from Commonwealth Games Australia.
