Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Josie Gabuco wins gold in World Championships but PHL has only one boxer in the 2012 Olympics

Josie Gabuco gave the country its first ever World Championship boxing gold. She won light-flyweight gold medal in the 2012 AIBA Women's Boxing World Championships. Her golden effort though did not merit the country an olympic berth since her weight class is not included in the olympic line-up. With months before the 2012 London Games, the Philippines will be sending just one boxer in this years olympics.

1? Uno? Isa? Usa? From an Asian superpower, the Philippines is slowly being relegated to the bottom in amateur boxing. Can you believe it? It does not come as a surprise though as our best bets go pro early. Instead of dreaming of a gold medal, many dreamed to be the next Manny Pacquiao instead. How much does an amateur boxer even earn nowadays?

The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines has Manny Pangilinan as its Godfather. Money is supposedly not an issue anymore. Change may not be overnight but we have losing our best amateur fighters to the pros.  Their should be a program that will develop a future boxing team ala Smart Gilas. Although, it is not good to use the Gilas as an example because its core are now in the PBA. 

The ABAP should form a team in age groups and they should be trained by the best coaches available. They can even ask Freddie Roach to do some drills. We used to have Cuban coaches, now we simply rely on our home-grown coaches.  I am not saying that we are inferior but the results are showing how we are doing against our neighbors.  Thailand is not scared of us anymore. China, India, and even Middle-Eastern teams are on the rise. We should start upgrading our training and coaching.

Maybe it would be a good idea to form a team  in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) this early. I am sure MVP can afford it. We have to expose our boxers with tough competitions all year round or else it will take us another 20 years to see another Onyok Velasco. 

Boxing maybe a very dangerous sport and it cannot even be encouraged in schools but it is still the sport that we have the biggest chance of a gold medal in the olympics. Let us just start praying that Barriga will get the gold in London to inspire our budding fighters to stay amateur. ;)

Links:
Gabuco wins Gold
Million Peso Baby
Overweight Mexican Boxers
Jaro is a world champion

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Classic Game 7 still talked about... for the wrong reasons

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has just concluded one of its best championships series ever. The B-Meg Llamados took the 2011-12 PBA Commissioner's Cup title by beating the hard-fighting Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters in a memorable Game 7.

It was a great series indeed as the PBA is boasting of high ratings and very high gate receipts. Those are not the reasons though why a lot of people is still talking about the series.  Many fanatics are talking about the foul that happened with 1.2 seconds left in regulation in Game 7 of the series.

With TNT leading by 2, James Yap threw a pass to Best Import awardee Denzel Bowles who was then "fouled" by Kelly Williams while attempting a hurried shot. Many fans are angry while many as well as are laughing because the TNT dynasty and their dreams of total domination has been obliterated by a single whistle by a referee. Tears of joy were replaced by tears of sorrow. A lot of bettors are screaming Yes and No simultaneously. Here is a video of the most memorable play of the series:


Was there a foul? The PBA says yes while TNT officials are still fuming about the "bad" officiating.  Are they just sore losers or is there really a problem in officiating. Foul or not, this supposed classic series will be remembered by that call. People will forget how Bowles made the 2 biggest free throws of his life or how Alapag played his hearts out in this game, but the foul defined the game and it made the PBA somewhat relevant once again.

Hurry up with the next conference already!!!

Links:
Super Ending: B-Meg "Bowles" over TNT
TNT players absent in the All-Star festivities
Game 7 beckons!