MANILA, Philippines?Newly elected PC vice-president Manny Lopez, who stepped down as president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines in favor of PLDT-Smart?s Ricky Vargas and slid down to vice president, finally has a reason to smile.
Harry Ta?amor, who was a major letdown in the recent Beijing Olympic Games despite being picked by Sports Illustrated to win a medal, lived up to expectations by winning the gold medal at the World Cup in Moscow recently.
Ta?amor, a slightly built 31-year-old, was all smiles as he presented his trophy to Abap chair Manny Pangilinan in the absence of Vargas, who is on a protracted vacation it seems.
A light flyweight silver medalist at the World Boxing Championships in Chicago last year and a two-time Olympian, Ta?amor has finally won something big for himself and the country and at least, for the time being, stalled the criticism that Lopez has been subjected to.
But Manny, like a good boxer who sometimes fights back furiously, has also learned to roll with the punches, happy in the thought that under his watch, Ta?amor set a record by being the first Filipino boxer to win a gold medal in the World Cup, where the elite in each weight category were invited to compete.
Ta?amor has every reason to be proud of his feat because in the finals he defeated a skillful Cuban, Yampier Hernandez, handsomely.
Perhaps it came a little too late but it seems like a great way to wind up his career, especially since he?ll be richer by $10,000 from the International Amateur Boxing Association.
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Pangilinan?s passion has always been basketball, from the collegiate ranks to the PBA and now even in women?s basketball. Boxing is something new. But he?s ready to invest in the sport as the country?s quest for an elusive Olympic gold medal continues.
MVP also welcomed former WBA champion Edwin Valero, who is a knockout artist with 24 wins, all by KO and holder of 19 straight knockouts, and former WBC lightweight champion David Diaz, both of whom told Pangilinan how wonderfully they had been treated by Filipinos.
Diaz, who is a talker and a fun guy from Chicago, was ecstatic about how Filipinos recognized him and the warmth with which he and Valero were greeted.
Diaz said he called his wife in freezing Chicago as she braced for a snowstorm to tell her how nice and warm it was in the Philippines in more ways than one and confessed that he was treated so much better than in his hometown of Chicago.
?Man it?s incredible,? he told MVP, ?I was treated like a rock star.?
Valero, who can speak English but prefers to answer questions in Spanish, was a little more subdued but said he never imagined he would be welcomed the way he was. They both praised Manny Pacquiao not merely as a fighter but as a remarkably kind and good human being. They once again underscored just what an asset Manny has been for our country.
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Solar Sports is planning something really big in March. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told veteran scribe Ronnie Nathanielsz that he plans a world championship double-header at the Araneta Coliseum in the first week of March.
This was confirmed by Nene Araneta after a luncheon with Arum and trainer Freddie Roach.
The fights being planned are for the WBO super flyweight championship between Fernando Montiel of Mexico and Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire and an IBF light flyweight title fight between Ulises Solis also of Mexico and former world champion Brian Viloria.
If this pushes through it will once again spotlight the Big Dome as the true Mecca of Philippine sports and entertainment.
With the current adulation of Pacquiao and the record-setting attendance at his fights in Las Vegas and the incredible 1.4 million pay-per-view buys despite the economic depression, it?s hard to imagine that when Manny first defended his WBC flyweight crown at the Araneta Coliseum, it was a flop and Nene lost money.
But he didn?t mind because he gave Pacquiao a chance to fight before his countrymen and begin his incredible demolition of Mexicans since the fighter he mauled into submission in four rounds then was Gabriel Mira, the first Mexican to feel the power of the Pacman.
