A TRUE PATRIOT AND HERO

By Bayawanon

People who are serving in whatever field in pursuit of national glory is considered a patriot. An athlete who is representing his/her country is considered a patriot, much more if he/she fights on the battlefield for the freedom of his/her country.

Teofilo Yldefonso whose monicker was the "Ilocano Shark" represented the Philippine flag in the 200-meter breaststroke in swimming three times specifically in1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics. He grabbed the bronze medal in the said event during the 1928 and 1932 Olympics and landed seventh in the 1936 Olympics. Such feat is already recorded in the annals of history of the Philippine Sports since we can only count our fingertips as regards to the Filipino athletes who made us proud during the Olympics.

Yldefonso got 144 medals in his 16-year stint as a swimmer and became a member of the SWIMMING HALL OF FAME IN 2009. His unorthodox style of swimming known otherwise as the "Yldefonso stroke" is being adapted by pint-sized swimmers, especially by the Japanese swimmers.

Such accomplishments of Teofilo Yldefonso were already considered patriotic for giving glory to our motherland, the Philippines by way of the Olympics, but his greater legacy was the fact that he joined the Philippine Scout during the Second World War to save the Philippines from the Japanese invaders.

Yldefonso became a lieutenant in the Philippine Scout during the course of the Second World War and was one of those captured and joined the Death March. He survived the said harrowing march of death but later on died in a concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac due to the injuries he got from the said long, tiring and trying march.

His life can be a good inspiration for us, the new generation of Filipinos to be a TRUE PATRIOT AND HERO especially in this very challenging part of our national journey. May his sterling accomplishments be a guiding light for us to be freedom loving people and become good citizens of our country, the Philippines. May his likes increase and may the sunshine of the Philippines never fade in every challenge it has to face. So be it. Pls, visit the blog for more.

THE SECRET WEAPONS OF JEFF HORN TOWARDS VICTORY

By Bayawanon

II'm still in awe why Manny Pacquiao lost the World Boxing Organization Welterweight Boxing diadem. The once dreaded boxing lion was vanquished in the BATTLE OF BRISBANE via the pounding, head locking, head-butting, elbowing and youthful Jeff "The Hornet" Horn.
Pacquiao's courage and heart were still there for him to successfully defend his crown but he lost the same because of five secret weapons of Horn towards which I would discuss below and they are the following: 1) The JEFF FENECH FACTOR; 2) The REFEREE FACTOR; 3) THE CROWD FACTOR 4) The ROUGH HOUSING FACTOR and 5) The UNDERESTIMATION FACTOR.
*** THE JEFF FENECH FACTOR
Jeff Fenech is a three-division world boxing champion who also landed in the boxing hall of fame, who eventually a boxing coach. He once upon a time trained Australian boxer Nedal Hussein in a boxing match in Manila many years ago where Pacquiao nearly lost by way of dirty tactics.
Jeff Fenech is a consultant to the Horn camp and advised Horn to bring the fight to Pacquiao and make the fight a brawl. In connection with the result of the fight where Horn made some rough housing and connect the same to the Hussein fight, it seemed like Fenech advised Horn to do the dirty tricks for the latter to wrest the world title crown from Pacquiao.
*** THE REFEREE FACTOR
The referee of the said boxing event was clearly favoring Jeff Horn, as a matter of fact, no point was ever deducted to Horn in times where he would repeatedly headlock, elbow, hold and head butt the former champion.
A point deduction or even a warning against Horn would have affected the fight and Horn's momentum would have lessened had the referee stood neutral and judicious.
*** THE CROWD FACTOR
Due to the encouragement and support of the hometown crowd, Jeff Horn was fighting like a champion and Pacquiao was acting like a challenger. Seldom that we would see that a title fight is being staged in the turf of the challenger, usually a title fight is held in the champion's lair or in a neutral territory, because of this Horn got the advantage without Pacquiao noticing it.
*** THE ROUGH HOUSING FACTOR
Jeff Horn used everything to win, aside from his good lateral movements, body and head movements, punching power and speed, he had clearly resorted to dirty tactics such as head locking, head-butting, elbowing and holding. These dirty tricks on the part of the challenger had clearly diminished the movement of Pacquiao which eventually contributed to his loss.
*** THE UNDERESTIMATION FACTOR
Manny Pacquiao, the champion had clearly and unequivocally underestimated the challenger, since the challenger is not a household name in the world of boxing except Australia. Jeff Horn had only seventeen (17) fights across his name prior to the big fight and them same had no big fight aside from his fight with the former world champion, the South African Ali Funeka.
These are the silent factors which I believe contributed to Pacquiao's loss in his world title defense in Australia basing on my sportsman's point of view. Pacquiao can make these factors as an excuse, but as some would put it that "In victory or in defeat, a good athlete never has an alibi".

SENATOR PACQUIAO MUST STOP FIGHTING

By Bayawanon

During the campaign period Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao would keep on telling the people that if he's gonna be elected senator of the land he would not fight anymore since the senate needs one hundred percent attendance for him to really serve the people. Now, his promoter Bob Arum, probably the greatest matchmaker of all time and his trainer, the multi-awarded Freddie Roach are now preparing for a possible Manny Pacquiao fight before the year ends. If this is gonna happen this would run counter to his promise to the people, anyway ... "promises are made to be broken" as they would say it.

Pacquiao could still have effectively serve the people if he only run for congressman during the last elections since he can still be in the lower house and at the same time give honor and glory for the Filipino flag as a boxer. To me being a congressman does not need full attendance for one to be good. At the age of thirty seven (37), Pacquiao is still as strong as Samson and can still fight the best in his division, he would still have twenty (20) million dollar fights 'til he finish his last term as congressman had he sought for re-election and he could have made us continually proud of being Filipinos each time he waves the Philippine flag atop the ring and pummeling boxers of international caliber, hence I believe that his run for the senate was inopportune and not in time.

Becoming a senator-boxer would be unthinkable for one since by doing so it would make the senate a cheap institution of the state, it would make the senate nothing but a boxing stable and it would make the people who voted for him political ignorants. The senate is the house of many national leaders whose remarkable records are already etched in the annals of the history of Philippine public service, the senate is the home of respectable statesmen who made a difference of what the Philippines it is already at the moment. The senate was the haven of the great legislators like Arturo Tolentino, Sergio Osmena Sr., Manuel L. Quezon, Raul Manglapus, Emmanuel Pelaez, Lorenzo Tanada, Jovito Salonga, Sergio Osmena Jr., Benigno Aquino Jr. etc. hence it must be respected with full dedication by having full attendance.

How can Senator Pacquiao be a good senator if he would then just be a part time law maker? How can he fare well with the above-mentioned senators if he would continue fighting atop the squared ring? I'm not saying that he can't be a good senator, what I'd like to drive at here is this, he must stop fighting and focus his time to pass laws for the good of the people for clearly " salus populi est suprema lex" the welfare of the people is the supreme law.

THE SECOND GREATEST BALLER OF ALL TIME

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is widely regarded as the GOAT (greatest of all time) of basketbal and I believe that he really is. I also believe that all of the active basketball players in the planet are contesting only for the second greatest. Now the question is this ... who is the second greatest basketball player of all time?

I believe that LeBron James is the second greatest player the basketball world has ever seen, at nineteen years of age he entered the most prestigious basketball league of the world which is the National Basketball Association (NBA) as one of the youngest and he eventually won the Rookie of the Year Award the same year he entered the league.

At 31 LeBron has already reached the NBA finals seven times six of which happened successively which seldomly happens in the league. James also became the youngest NBA player to ever reach 5,000 points, 10,000 points, 15,000 points, 20,000 points and 25,000 points respectively and is expected to be the youngest to reach 30,000 points in NBA history.

LeBron James is a four time regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awardee of the National Basketball Association and just recently got his third Most Valuable Player Award at the NBA Finals. During the 2016 Finals he captained his illustrious NBA Team the Cleveland Cavaliers to secure the NBA Championship after trailing the Golden State Warriors 3-1 and overtake the same and won over the former, bear in mind that no NBA team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit.

Because of these reasons I believe that the prediction of those basketball pundits that the then teenager from Akron, Ohio, LeBron James would be the future of basketball came true for I really believe that he really is the second greatest basketball player of all time next to the great Chicago Bull Michael Jordan.

Luisito Espinosa - Kennedy McKinney

"Luisito Espinosa is widely considered as one of the greatest Filipino fighters ever. Like Dodie Boy and Gerry Peñalosa, he held two titles in different divisions. Espinosa won the WBA bantamweight title on a first round knockout over Khaokor Galaxy in Bangkok in 1989 and claimed the WBC featherweight crown via a decision over Manuel Medina in Tokyo in 1995.

There were several milestones in Espinosa’s checkered career. He repulsed seven straight challengers in defending his WBC featherweight belt. Some of the challengers he victimized were Mexico’s Alejandro (Cobrita) Gonzales who was hospitalized after suffering a knockout in Guadalajara, Japan’s Nobutoshi Hiranaka who capitulated in eight in Fukuoka and US Olympian Kennedy McKinney who was bowled over in two in Indio, California"---

by Joaquin M. Henson (The Philippine Star)

- See more at: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2013-01-02/892433/ring-hero-down-luck#sthash.cviZ8r3a.dpuf

The so called "fight of the century"

by Felizar Mortillero

Before the so-called FIGHT OF THE CENTURY, the terms and conditions of the fight contract were all given to Mayweather. The 60 percent lion's share of the fight purse was given to him, his request of an USADA style drug testing was granted by Pacquiao, the type of gloves to be used in the fight should be preferably be the ones of Mayweather's choice and the contract has no rematch clause if Pacquiao loses.

After the fight and after Pacquiao lost to Mayweather I saw again many things which favored Mayweather to win the fight. Mayweather fought almost all his professional boxing career in Las Vegas and even became a resident of Las Vegas the place where Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was staged, because of this the Nevada State Athletic Commission may probably give favors to Mayweather in connection to his past, present and future fights as a resident of the City of Las Vegas and as a resident also of the State of Nevada.

One of the privileges of Mayweather is his usage of the regulated drug in Nevada called xylocaine, this drug is being banned in all State Athletic Commissions in America save from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Mayweather's argument in using this regulated drug is that this medicine tolls or stops his fists' bones from getting brittled, some experts would tell us that xylocaine is also a pain reliever. Weeks before the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, Pacquiao injured his right shoulder hence his camp asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission to give Pacquiao's camp a consent to use an injectable to ease the pain of his injured right shoulder but Pacquiao's pleas went unheeded, now where is fair play here?

Another privilege of Mayweather in that infamous FIGHT OF THE CENTURY was the selection of the fight officials, as we all know all of the three judges ( three blind mice according to Bob Arum IN RE: PACQUIAO-BRADLEY 1 fight) came from the U.S.A., ergo they were all compatriots of Mayweather, thus the possibility (which really happened) of giving the fight to Mayweather by the judges on the ground of PATRIOTISM is not remote, and what happened to Pacquiao despite of him winning nine rounds per my fight evaluation? He lost the richest but not the best boxing bout in the annals of history of pugilism.