LADIES and gentlemen, in the left corner, presenting Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao.
In the right corner, presenting Spain’s Euro08 hero Fernando Torres.
Torres, 24, boyishly flicks his hair to his right. K.O.
Pacquiao, 30, smiles after withdrawing his left hand.
Next contest, ladies and gentlemen.
In the left corner, presenting football’s ‘Portuguese Peacock’ Cristiano Ronaldo, the new Fifa World Player of the Year 2008.
In the right corner, squash’s world No. 1 woman, from Malaysia, Datuk Nicol David.
Ronaldo, 23, stands, with hands on his hips, legs apart, staring down David as if she’s some kind of useless Malaysian wall.
Thump! Down goes Ronaldo, as feathers float gently to the ring floor.
David, 25, smiles, withdrawing her squash racket to balance it over her shoulder.
Did this really happen?
Yes, but only online, in a popularity poll that also drew heavy nationalistic sentiments, towards the end.
Organised by espnstar.com, their first ‘Champion of Champions’ poll saw Pacquiao eventually beat David in the ‘final’, which saw 1.6 million votes cast.
Pacquiao won 90.62 per cent of those votes, in comparison to David’s mere 9.38.
So you could even say Pacquiao only had to blow David away with just the draft from his famed left jab.
Held online last month, four exciting rounds of elimination saw more than 4.6 million votes in total from across the region.
Initially, espnstar.com drew up a list of 16 world-class athletes (see other report) which comprised other top sports personalities such as world No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal, reigning National Basketball Association MVP Kobe Bryant, golf superstar Tiger Woods and Beijing Olympics air rifle sharp-shooter Abhinav Bindra – India’s first Olympic gold-medallist in 28 years.
Public darling
The aim was to garner public opinion to determine the individual who has gone beyond achievements and new levels of excellence, to leave his or her mark on sports fans last year.
The list was pre-determined by fans across the region through forums, and the voting mechanism was in the form of a knock-out format.
The sports personalities were drawn against each other in pairs through an open draw and members of the public cast their votes online.
Instead of a straight-forward one-time popularity poll, a knock-out format based along the lines of a cup competition, was planned, to make it more interactive throughout the month.
In the first Round of 16, Manchester United’s veteran manager Sir Alex Ferguson interestingly, got more votes to beat golf’s Woods.
David also beat the more famous Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt.
Overall, the most online voters came from the Philippines, Malaysia, India, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
But the biggest participation levels came from the Philippines, Malaysia, India and Singapore, in the latter stages of the competition.
Espnstar.com wasn’t able to provide more exact breakdowns of voter and country of origin.
But there’s no denying that when it comes to Asian sports fans, Pacquiao really stole everyone’s hearts with his exploits in the boxing world last year.
The reigning WBC lightweight champion, in four weight divisions, completed a dream year by famously humiliating welterweight and 10-time world champion Oscar de la Hoya of the US, last month.
It’s no wonder David crumbled easily online in the end, in the face of such overwhelming achievements.
How they squared up
ESPNSTAR.COM’S Champion of Champions poll results
Total votes over December: More than 4.6 million
Votes in ‘final’: 1.6 million
ROUND OF 16
1. Manny Pacquiao (Philippines boxing champion) 66.40 bt Valentino Rossi (Italy’s six-time MotoGP champion) 33.60
2. Fernando Torres (Spain’s Euro08 hero) 61.62 bt Lewis Hamilton (Britain’s new F1 champion) 38.38
3. Alex Ferguson (Man United manager) 54.23 bt Tiger Woods (US golf hero) 45.77
4. Sachin Tendulkar (India’s cricket hero) 69.40 bt Rafael Nadal (Spain’s tennis hero) 30.60
5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal’s Fifa World Player of the Year 2008) 54.08 bt Michael Phelps (US Olympic swimming phenomenon) 45.92
6. Nicol David (Malaysia’s women’s squash world No.1) 54.02 bt Usain Bolt (Jamaica’s Olympic sprint champion) 45.98
7. Sourav Ganguly (former Indian cricket captain ) 61.06 bt Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India’s cricket captain) 38.94
8. Kobe Bryant (US basketball star) 56.83 bt Abhinav Bindra (India’s air rifle Olympic champion) 43.17
QUARTER-FINALS
1. Pacquiao 70.26 bt Torres 29.74
2. Tendulkar 55.34 bt Ferguson 44.66
3. David 51.65 bt Ronaldo 48.35
4. Ganguly 59.61 bt Bryant 40.39
SEMI-FINALS
Pacquiao 62.95 bt Tendulkar 37.05
David 50.91 bt Ganguly 49.09
FINAL
Pacquiao 90.62 bt David 9.38
