Mga Pamalandong sa Bisoy

3 Nilled for the Pinoys Plus an Upset

9-11 proved to be a very memorable day for the Filipinos. No bombings or terrorist attacks, only a barrage of knockouts in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Today is one of those days where one could be proud to be a Filipino.

I had to get up early today for church. After church I was in a hurry to get home in order to watch some big-time boxing. First up was Boholano Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista. Boom Boom is a very well known boxer in Cebu since he began his impressive boxing career there. Unfortunately, I arrived too little too late for Boom Boom’s bout. When I turned on the TV, I saw the replay and slow mo of how he knocked out his opponent. He was up against an African. So I’m going to watch the replay of his bout tonight (930 tonight on RPN). A powerful left (I think, if I remember it correctly) right in the face put the African in the canvass. 1-0 for the Philippines, and of course, for trainer Freddie Roach.

Next in line is Fil-Am Brian Viloria. He went up against a world champion, a Mexican. Viloria is the son of Filipino parents although he was born and grew up in Hawaii. It was said that when he was a kid, he used to punch banana trees in order to increase the power in his punches. He was a 2000 Olympian (represented the US, unfortunately) and he participated in a boxing event featuring boxers both from the US and Puerto Rico. It was basically a US vs. Puerto RicoPuerto Rico. boxing event. He was very impressive in his match that he was named one of the two top boxers in the event, the other being Miguel Cotto from Viloria’s fight against the Mexican was a very short one. The bout officially lasted only for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. He actually connected with a couple of shots that shook and staggered the Mexican midway through the first round. But during the closing seconds of the first round, the Mexican found himself trapped in the corner. Viloria, smelling blood, went in for the kill. A strong right to the jaw sent the Mexican lying flat on the canvass. You could actually see his eyes rolling upwards while trying to get up. He actually made the count and got up but his legs were uncooperative. He fell down again and the referee had to stop the fight. Even though time had run out of the first round, the referee had to continue to give him a count since international rules of boxing state that no fighter can be saved by the bell in any round. And now, Filipinos and Freddie Roach go up 2-0.

There is a side story in Viloria’s fight. He dedicated the bout and the win eventually, to his previous opponent Contreras. During their previous bout, Viloria knocked Contreras out. Unfortunately, Contreras had a seizure after the fight and was hospitalized. This is the kind of situation you don’t want to in boxing, when a boxer would find himself fighting for his life. Fortunately, Contreras recovered after a few weeks or months. That officially ended his boxing career but at least he lived through that life scare. Viloria actually hugged Contreras while on his way to the ring. He said that it really bothered him while he was training and he couldn’t sleep well at night knowing that Contreras was still in the hospital. During the end of the fight, Contreras spoke on the mic and thanked God and the Filipinos. He also said out loud that his win was dedicated to Contreras. And Contreras was given a standing ovation. It was a very touching moment…And then came the most anticipated fight of the night (or noon in the Philippines). The fight actual fight happened around 8AM in the Philippines but it was televised around 1130 AM. Manny Pacquiao went up against Hector Velasquez. While watching the pre-game introductions, my cousin called me and told me that Pacquiao won by KO at the end of the sixth. Unfortunately, the surprise was gone. Anyway, if I hadn’t heard the good news, I would have thought Pacquiao lost the bout since he was a bit sluggish in the early rounds. I personally thought Velasquez won the first two rounds. But Manny, a relentless fighter that he is, increased his intensity with each round. And midway through the sixth round, he had his best chance of knocking out Velasquez as he unleashed a flurry of punches. But Velasquez managed to get himself out of the danger zone by holding on to Manny, and the referee had to break them up. But during the closing seconds of the sixth, Manny was not letting the same opportunity slip again. He unloaded a number of good punches that eventually sent Velasquez kneeling on the floor while holding on to Manny’s legs. The referee gave him the count, and he got up probably on the eight or ninth count. But the referee looked at his eyes and called a halt to the bout. The referee, by the way, was also a doctor so he probably thought Velasquez was in no condition to continue the fight. And the official time is 2:59 in the sixth. Filipinos seem to finish their opponents with one second left in the round. So, the Pinoys and trainer Freddie Roach finish the Saturday fight night in a clean slate at 3-0. FYI, Velasquez hails from Tijuana, Mexico, just like Erik Morales…

The last night of the bout seemed to be an easy bout for Erik “El Terible” Morales. He was up against a good fighter in Raheem, a native of Philadelphia. But Raheem doesn’t have the reputation or the hype of other great boxers like Barrera, Pacquiao, Chavez, etc. In the start of the fight, I was very surprised to see the great hand speed of Raheem. Morales couldn’t seem to get his game going against Raheem’s fighting style. Morales actually got close of hitting the canvass in the fourth (or fifth?) round when Raheem caught him with a very good right cross. Morales went staggering backwards until he ran into the ropes and got his legs back. Raheem committed a very big mistake by not going after Morales because he thought Morales was definitely going down after the cross. He actually backed down and thought the referee would go and give Morales the count. But Morales managed to keep his balance and avoided the 10-8 round.

This was probably the most ineffective Morales has been, including his two losses to Marco Antonio Barrera. He just couldn’t get his game going. Or maybe, Raheem just caught Morales on a bad day. Again maybe, Morales was just overconfident and underestimated Raheem’s boxing capabilities. Lastly, maybe Raheem’s fighting style was just the exact style that counters Morales’ fighting style. I could still remember the Felix “Tito” Trinidad-Bernard Hopkins bout. Trinidad came into the fight undefeated. And his undefeated record was not courtesy of mediocre boxers, but this included a win against the great Oscar “The Golden Boy” dela Hoya. Trinidad was favored to win against Hopkins by KO. But during the course of the fight, TrinidadHopkins and was literally crushed by Hopkins. If you’d have seen the fight and had not known any of the boxers, you would have thought that Hopkins was a champion and was up against a mediocre boxer. Trinidad was very frustrated throughout the match that he decided to slug it out with Hopkins in the twelfth. Eventually, he was KO’d. looked very ineffective against

So what happens next? What would happen to the Pacquiao-Morales rematch? Would there be a Raheem-Morales rematch instead? And no, there won’t be any Raheem-Pacquiao match since Raheem is in a higher weight class, Manny is only in the 130 lb division. And anything more than 130 lb would be too much to handle for the Pacman. Morales said he and his team would watch the tape of his bout against Raheem and see what happened in the bout. And then they’ll decide who the next opponent is. Would he go down to 130 lb and fight Pacquiao or stay in that same division and fight Raheem again or go up again one more division? We’ll just wait and see… Nevertheless, 9-11 is still a great and memorable day for the Filipinos.

*all photos courtesy of AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

posted by kArEnEiL @ 8:27 PM