THERE is reason to celebrate this early because three of our greatest fighters today are set to climb the ring just two weeks apart.
It just goes to show that our very own talents continue to command world attention amid the sad, stinging specter of a continuing dip of performances from their Asian neighbors.
Manny Pacquiao resumes his leading role on the vanguard of Filipino ingenuity on the world stage as he fights Timothy Bradley Jr. anew on April 10 (PHL time), spurred on by this perfunctory passion to prove he could still hack it with knees nearing junkyard status.
He has to win or face the sorriest song searing him this seemingly late in his career: Hello, Goodbye. By The Beatles, of course.
He has to win decisively and convincingly or suffer yet a most telling setback on May 9: Losing that Senate seat that he had been pining for?albeit, desperately?in the hopes of mounting that thoroughly impossible dream of becoming President of the Republic.
Ambition, indeed, is worse than drug addiction. Even Duterte has no cure for that.
Still, because Pacquiao is our very own, we will wish him well. As the saying goes, ?He may be a bitch, but he is still our son of a bitch.?
Moving on, we have Nonito Donaire Jr. and Mark Magsayo, two more of the country?s bravest brilliant boxers, headlining the next Pinoy Pride by ALA Promotions of Tony and Michael Aldeguer in their usual partnership with ABS-CBN and Top Rank.
Set on April 23 at Cebu Sports Center, Donaire stakes his WBO world superbantamweight title against Zsolt Bedak of Hungary, with Magsayo, the reigning WBO world youth champion, facing world top-ranked Chris ?The Hitman? Avalos of Mexico.
Donaire has been unbeaten in his last several fights and I?m confident he will make Bedak his 24th knockout victim to raise his record to 37-3.
With a 25-1 record, Bedak appears decent. But his KO power is suspect: Only 8 KO wins.
And Magsayo? Well, as bold as I can be, I will say Avalos (26-4-0) will become his 11th KO victim for an unblemished 14-0 mark. Aptly monikered ?Magnifico,? the Bohol-born Magsayo is absolutely the best world prospect to ever come out from the ALA stable in recent memory.
He does not rumble. He rocks.
