A lot of armchair boxing tacticians have been debating the question of who the better fighter is between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya after word got out of their projected superfight on December 6. Today’s Inquirer headline screamed: $100-M fight: Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya.

The tale of the tape doesn’t say it all, and reveals only the more superficial aspects of this much-anticipated clash of titans.

De La Hoya

Ht. – 5’10.5”
Wt. – 150 lb.
Reach – 73”
Age – 35

Pacquiao

Ht. – 5’6.5”
Wt. – 135 lb.
Reach – 67”
Age – 29

Manny is clearly the underdog, as the size differential is dramatic. Aside from heft, ODLH has significantly longer reach. Manny may have an edge, age-wise, but that advantage is easily offset by Oscar’s wiliness and years of experience. It seems obvious that Pacman will be pummeled if he goes toe-to-toe against the Golden Boy. Read the rest of this entry »

The blockbuster fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya will push through on December 6, according to reports.

The official announcement is set to be made in a few hours for what is estimated to be one of the richest purses in boxing history, to top U.S. $ 100 million. Pacquiao will most likely receive a lesser share of what the Golden Boy will get, but not that much smaller,and certainly more than Manny ever earned before, or will hope to earn in the near future. My guess is he will eventually cash in in the U.S. $ 30 million range, depending on the pay-for-view receipts. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo credit from foxsports.com

It wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the final score would seem to indicate. The Spaniards fought gallantly, and kept apace of the Americans with every basket and rebound, and the game went down the wire. This wasn’t a replay of the earlier blowout suffered by Spain in the hands of the U.S. during the eliminations. The Americans reached the finals with a 7-0 card and won by an average of 30 points. This was supposed to be a walk in the park. It wasn’t. Read the rest of this entry »

In your dreams (or nightmares, depending).

But now that I have your attention, let me get to the point of this post, which is to jump right into the inevitable finger-pointing bandwagon on our dismal showing in the Beijing Olympics. Not that medal shutouts are anything new to us. The country has failed to win a single medal in any of the past three Olympics (Sydney, Athens and now Beijing).

And with Mongolia winning its first gold at the 2008 Olympics (in judo), the Philippines now holds the dubious record for the most medals without a gold. Even war-torn Afghanistan managed to break into the medal tally. Read the rest of this entry »

President Arroyo has backtracked on her initial stand pushing the memorandum of agreement creating an expanded Bangsamoro homeland as the way to “lasting peace” in Mindanao. In light of the escalating conflict in Cotabato and the Lanao provinces, she had little choice but to move away from the deal. To save face, Malacañang says that it would not sign the MoA on the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) “in its present form”. This is tantamount to saying it will never be signed at all, as the MILF has made it clear that it will not settle for anything less than the establishment of the BJE as defined in the MoA. As far as the rebel group is concerned, the MoA is a “done deal”. Read the rest of this entry »