It’s probably the best boxing final of all time. It was March 1990 in Las Vegas. The Mexican Julio César Chávez (28 years old) arrived undefeated with 68 victories. The rival was the American Meldrick Taylor, a 23-year-old also undefeated, gold medalist of the 1984 Olympic Games. Taylor’s speed surprised him from the start. A very frustrated Chávez landed powerful blows, but Taylor’s style prevailed in most of the assaults. Despite their superiority, the fight was desperate and bloody. Both wanted the bell to ring, both were as burdensome to each other as heavy luggage.
Coming to the last round, Chávez was losing on points, he could only knock out or lose. “Julio, do it for your mother, for Mexico, throw away everything you have, for the love of God, Julio!”, they say to him in the corner. With 25 seconds left, Chavez lands a right on Taylor, then a hook to the liver that knocks the Olympian off his legs and, at 16 seconds, a right that sends Meldrick kissing the canvas. Taylor manages to get up in time, but the referee asks him two questions. He’s out of shape, he doesn’t hear his voice, he doesn’t respond, and in boxing, he’s considered knocked out. The victory is for Chávez. The number 69. The one of the unforgettable hit. With two seconds to go.
The political face-to-face are exactly the same: a Chávez vs. Taylor, with activations and deactivations, with categories, data, examples, struggle of sentences, which transform words into quick, direct, dry blows. For this reason, with the permission of the great Ibai, who at the weekend brought together more than 70,000 people at the Metropolitano and 3.4 million viewers live on Twitch, on July 10, the big evening of the year will have a track political addition to Atresmedia: Feijóo vs. Sánchez I’m not at all clear who is who in the fight. There is a lot to analyze in the pre and post fight. Both have Mexican and American stuff. Often, moreover, they exchange roles, with the president sometimes looking like the aspirant and the leader of the opposition, a president-in-waiting. When Sánchez announced the electoral advance, we already pointed to the fact that the script turn was directing us to Kinshasa, in 1974. Who will be George Foreman? Who is Muhammad Ali? I know everyone wants to be Chávez or Ali.
It is funny, for this reason, that some have suddenly discovered the audacity of Sánchez a few days ago in El Hormiguero. The readers of this war room know that for two years he has claimed in numerous pieces the left-wing, daring, brave, maverick or free verse style, his best version. In 2021 he sinned when he embraced the mahogany PSOE, a huge mistake, and since then he has accumulated all possible defeats. It has been to abandon this tone and that there was an automatic improvement of his perception. And time, as always, is silent. The problem now is that the president has lost the 28-M and does not arrive in time to beat the 23-J. There is a pilot, but no car. It looks good. Sánchez has plan B, which is blocking, that is, that PP Vox does not obtain an absolute majority (176 deputies), but not a plan A, because it cannot win. Advancement and errors with Summar have destroyed the Coalition’s arithmetic. Feijóo has resolved, just in case, his plan B, the absolute one with Vox, vitaminizing and empowering them, for example in Extremadura, reconciling with the mandate of 28- M. But he wants plan A: the Government in the minority, like Aznar in 1996, more than 150 seats. And he already knows that playing at failure is insufficient. That’s why you need face to face so much. It means consolidating 12 deputies, those who go from 139 to 151. For Sánchez, it is to achieve the “Rubalcaba 110 moment” and continue in the opposition.
The key to the battle is the 1,200,000 undecideds who say “no is no” to the Coalition and the PP Vox agreement. The same pattern of voters who gave the majority to Juanma Moreno. what will they do now Will plan B win or will there be plan A? It will be a legendary night. Sánchez, like Taylor, the referees, Vicente Vallés and Ana Pastor, will ask him questions: “If he doesn’t win, will he block like in 2016? Will it lead to a second election? To vote again?!” Also in Feijóo: “Will he agree with Vox to be president? Is your word worth it? Or will he do a María Guardiola?” Debates are like that. Words, like powerful uppercuts. Feijóo vs. Sanchez The political evening of the year. They will attack with everything.
