The Challenge Fights of Grandmaster Ciriaco "Cacoy" Canete: The Greatest Living Eskrimador

“History is written by the victors”. This timeless quote is clearly an appropriate one for the biography of a man never beaten in over 100 challenge fights. This book documents the fights exactly as Grandmaster Cacoy Canete related them to the author. The risk of death or serious injury was ever present in these type of matches, which became known as the legendary “Death matches of the Philippines”. It was common practice for the opponents to exchange waivers that asked their family and friends not to take revenge on the victor’s family, eskrima club or friends. Both players assumed full responsibility for the outcome of their challenge. To be the victor of more than 100 challenge fights one must have a technical base that can deal with any empty hand style and all known weapons systems. Many of the fighters that Cacoy Canete fought relied heavily upon the anting-anting mystical arts, orascion prayers and religious mantra chants to guarantee their success in fighting. These methods had no part in how Grandmaster Canete won his fights against these men. In his own words: “I do not use anting-anting, I rely on my technique”. Always challenged, never beaten, this is the fighting history of Grandmaster Cacoy Canete, the greatest living fighter in the history of Doce Pares.