Pacquiao Overpowers Margarito; Bags 8th World Crown

TEXAS, USA – Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao grabbed hold of the tail end and dismantled the “Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito, after a unanimous decision win adding the World Light Middleweight Championship belt to his historic eight championship titles in eight divisions at the jam-packed Cowboy Stadium, hours earlier.

Speed remained Pacman’s primary weapon as he gobbled up the Mexican star. The judges scored the bout: 120-108, 118-110, and 119-109 in favor of the People’s Champ.

On the starting bell, both fighters immediately engaged on the violent confrontation. Trying to gauge each other’s punching power, the Filipino star’s flurry of punches found their marks. Both fighters’ disparity in height was evident and Margarito’s five-inch reach advantage can also be seen when he unloads his jabs.

The Tijuana Tornado was touted to be a “diesel” fighter that builds up momentum and revs over time. Wisely using his footwork, Pacquiao frequently dances out of trouble each time his three-time-champ opponent would ram him with bodyblows in the second round.

Pacquiao, on his white trunks, looked like a swift butterfly that softly dances around the stiff Mexican warrior. There was a beautiful exchange of punches in the third but the Filipino fighter has amazingly used speed to his advantage which enabled him to punch upstairs and downstairs.

The Filipino champ manifested his firepower in the early seconds of the fourth round that made 42,000 people at the stadium roar and jump to their seats. Pacman’s combinations stunned Tijuana Tornado pushed him to back. Moments later, Margarito pinned Pacquiao to the ropes but the People’s Champ released a series of punches that forced the Mexican backpedalling again. After the round, the Mexican boxer a cut can be seen just below his right eye.

The fifth period of the game came as Pacquiao, with his signature flash-like reflexes, danced out of trouble while launching his counters. The fight still continued to heat up, but with forty seconds left on the game, a large lump can be seen on the Mexican’s face due to the bunch of power-punches he has taken.

Halfway through the match, Pacman’s right jabs were more evident. The fight seemed like the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya fight. Speed versus height and power. The Mexican pugilist continued to receive huge blows from the dominating People’s Champ.

On the seventh, the Mexi-cutioner landed more serious punches despite the occasional stinging right hooks of his opponent. He again unloaded his arsenal with a minute and a half left in the round. Pacman’s right hooks landed on the Margarito’s already-bruised cheek like laser-guided missiles with forty seconds to go. With five rounds to go, Rep. Pacquiao still continued to dominate the exchange of punches. The Filipino pugilist has perfectly found his punching angles eventhough there was a significant showing of his fatigue.

On the ninth round, Margarito’s marred face can clearly be seen while the referee Laurence Cole occasionally checked his cut. On the tenth, despite the puffy face of Margarito, his coach Robert Garcia seemed no plans of stopping the fight. Manny Pacquiao just continued to push through his plan of going in and out of harm’s way.

On the penultimate round, it seemed that Pacquiao got a hold of his second hind and continued to overpower the sluggish Mexican with his accurate haymakers. Pacquiao’s crisp punches can be heard; as each fist landed on its designated points on Margarito’s face.

On the last ticks of the fight, it was the Tijuana Tornado’s heart and courage that kept him fighting. Referee Cole again see to it that Margarito still have a good vision despite the two swollen eyes. Pacquiao’s trunks had lots of blood smears from Margarito’s dripping cuts. In an obvious attempt to hold back, Pacman let the round pass without trying to give out hard punches to the already battered opponent. The brave Mexican boxer still managed to keep on fighting until the last bell.

Number 13 proved to be lucky. Manny Pacquiao sealed his 13th straight win with his eighth world championship title in eight separate weight divisions – a feat unmatched by any other boxer in the planet. Mayweather, hope you've watched the fight.

My Thoughts on Basketball in the Philippines

Filipinos love basketball. It is indeed the most popular sport in the islands. Less than a week ago, Lakers edged the Celtics in the deciding game for the 2010 NBA Finals.

Basketball, not soccer, is the most loved sport by the Filipinos. Come to think of it, the sport is a clear manifestation of the American influence. After more than a century of its creation by the Canadian physical education instructor, Dr. James Naismith, basketball has reached the globe and we were never spared.

It was introduced in the islands, less than a decade after its initial creation by YMCA. Years later, we developed the oldest professional basketball league in Asia which is the PBA (the Philippine Basketball Association) in 1975. The Toyota-Crispa rivalry, as many old-timers would agree, is one of the notable rivalries in the league ever.

I grew up conscious of the game’s popularity. I grew up to the headlines of the Gordon’s Gin-Alaska rivalry. In my high schooldays, I and my friends would play at their home-made court just beside the highway in South Cotabato. Basketball is a national obsession with makeshift rings visible at town plazas, parking lots, sidestreets, forest clearings, or even in mountains of Maguindanao. All this time, we had been passionate of the sport.

We were once Asia’s greatest team. In the 1954, the Philippine Team with Carlos “Caloy” Loyzaga steering, placed third in the FIBA World Championship. It was during the time when the sport is not as popular as it is now in the world.

Right now, Philippine basketball is at its dark days. As time goes by, I realize that we loved a sport that is “not meant for us”. For a very simple and logical reason - in basketball, “Height is might”. In basketball, height is an advantage.

The average Filipino height is 5 feet and four inches. Yes, we have a lot of good and nimble players but they are no match to the giant ballers in the West. Very few have the height of or more than six feet. That is the same reason why even though we had been competing in the Olympics since 1936, we just couldn’t get any medal. From last year’s FIBA Asian men's championships, we even placed NINTH. It may be embarrassing but I am not surprised.

“Import” players usually outshine the locals in our basketball leagues. We keep on getting players from abroad yet we can not “export” Filipino players to play in other leagues overseas. We, Asians as we are, will never outplay the giants.

And it seems I am not alone with this view. Hall of Famer Carlos Loyzaga, the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, once said there is too much importance given to basketball when there are other sporting disciplines where the Filipino can excel. Sports critic and former POC president Julian Malonso also agreed that basketball is not the game for Filipinos.

Let’s take a look at Japan. Baseball, and not sumo wrestling, is their favorite pastime and it seems they are doing pretty well. A multitude of Japanese batters are superstars in America’s major league baseball. It is time for us to switch our focus out of basketball.

I believe we should instead concentrate more on sports where we have better chances of winning, like the sweet science of boxing, billiards, bowling, golf, tennis, chess, or soccer. A sport that does not have height as a factor that is our only chance in the world of sports. Period.