Of Carlo J. Caparas and Juan Tornado

This is a tribute to a great novelist who wrote two most unforgettable stories of fictitious boxing characters during my days. Carlo J. Caparas, born March 12, 1944, may be gone but he and the characters he created like Juan Tornado and Totoy Bato will live in our memories forever.

The Komiks legend, film director, and producer wearing dark sunglasses, and a baseball cap with his long wavy hair passed away yesterday, May 25, 2024.

Caparas wrote around 800 novels serially published in various Komiks magazines in the land in the 70s and 80s. Other famous Caparas hits were The Hero, Angela Markado, Ang Panday, Ermitanyo, Kung Tawagin Siya’y Bathala, Ang Huling Lalaki sa Baluarte, Somewhere, Pieta, Kahit Ako’y Lupa, Mong, Agatona, Harimanok, and Andres de Saya, to name only a few.

Of his two novels about boxing, only Totoy Bato was made into a movie. It was popular since the King of Philippine Movies himself, Fernando Poe Jr., was in the title lead role. I will not dwell much on Totoy Bato because only in 2009 did GMA Network present Totoy Bato, a television drama sports series based on the graphic novel created by Carlo J. Caparas. This time, it stars, now senator, Robin Padilla in the title role. I will only share Caparas’s or earlier story on a clumsy homegrown boxer but tall and muscular Juan Tornado.

Juan Tornado the novel was penned by Caparas in the mid-70s when Muhammad Ali was considered by many as a demigod and at the peak of his boxing career. Juan Tornado, the fictional Filipino heavyweight boxer stirred our young imaginations then. It has funny subplots for Juan is a very sleepy boy and would only be attentive and focused if Tindeng, the girl of his life, is around or in danger. He was accidentally discovered by a boxing manager visiting their barrio fiesta where in a carabao race, the big animal went berserk chasing all the bystanders and causing havoc. The raging buffalo chased Tindeng and Juan, like a flash of lightning, appeared in front of the animal and gave it one straight punch in the head and its lights off for the carabao. Juan KO’ed the beast of burden.

To make the story short, Juan became the first Filipino heavyweight to defeat the Komiks counterpart (or was it a parody?) of Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman, and finally, last Muhammad Ali (thank God, Tindeng was able to show up at the MGM Grand!).

With the ongoing rivalry between those heavyweights in real life those days, Carlo J. put the Filipino into the mix and, on the same lieu, the man with all his creativity and cleverness, planted seeds of hope in our people’s minds. Both Juan Tornado and Carlo Caparas fed the fantasies of our people during those days and still do.

We are hoping to see a Filipino boxing champ in the heavyweight division. Who knows? Maybe another Juan Tornado is already there in our rural areas waiting to be discovered.

Thank you for such a childhood fantasy, Carlo J., and rest in the Lord’s eternal clinch.

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(Photo: From Peach Caparas’s Facebook account)