One is the current toast in boxing. The other, an obscure basketball player raised on the US East Coast.
Filipino athletes are getting due recognition from American publications.
Manny Pacquiao will grace the cover of KO, one of the respected boxing magazines in the US.
Another Filipino given print space is Alvin Agir, a New Jersey-based cager who was featured in an article by Slam on its September issue.
Pacquiao, one of the elite featherweights in the world, will be the first Filipino to appear on the face of KO, a sister publication of the Ring, regarded as ?the Bible of boxing.?
According to Ring correspondent Ted Lerner, whose interview with Pacquiao will appear on KO, ?Manny is going on the cover because he is very popular and marketable in the States.
?He?s exciting to hard-core boxing fans and he?ll probably sell a lot of magazines.?
Although no date for when the magazine will be for sale has been announced, Lerner says, ?[the KO issue with the Pacquiao cover] will come out on its next issue.?
The 6-1 Agir, on the other hand, is the first full-blooded Filipino to enter the Slam, a monthly US basketball magazine.
?[Alvin] boasts incredible athleticism and solid range?? says the article written by Bonsu Thompson, one of the magazine?s senior writers.
?A product of a Filipino family,? the 21-year-old Agir was born and raised in Jersey City. But the article does not mention the Philippine residence of Agir?s parents.
The article also claims that Agir, pictured in braids and wearing a No. 25 Jersey City Clippers jersey, had earned invites from the Philippine national team but Agir declined them ?in order to remain in the US.?
Although he plays mostly in Philippine leagues in the US, Agir says that he is ready to play anyone.
?I play against people other than Filipinos,? Agir continues. ??if I go to the park, it?s obviously not gonna be a bunch of Filipinos out there. But if I?d get the chance I?d definitely take it to see where I?m at.?
When asked how players like him compensate for their lack of height, Agir says that basketball wits make a difference.
?Younger guys coming up think, ?Oh this team?s old so we can run ?em out the gym? but it?s not even like that.
?These old guys know what they doing.?
