5 world champs

CEBU, Philippines – With the recent demolition job that Manny Pacquiao did on Ricky Hatton, the Philippines is off to a hot start in the first half of the year. We are 4-1 in world championship fights, and we still have five world champions. This only proves that we’re no longer a one-man team, and that Pacquiao’s feats have opened the doors for the country’s top boxers to show their stuff.

1-0. Donnie Nietes started out the year defending his WBO minimumweight championship title over Erik Martinez in Mexico last February. Nietes is admittedly the least known among the country’s current world champions, primarily because he fights in the lightest weight division of 105 pounds which hardly gets any mileage on TV and the national sports pages. It’s not exactly the most glamorous weight division these days, but then again, a world title is still a world title

It’s for this purpose that I mention him first today. Did you notice Solar Sports’ plug on our world champs? It excludes Nietes. Purposely? I sure hope not. Oh well. The Ring Magazine rates him at # 8 among 105-pound boxers behind Roman Gonzales at #1.

2-0. Brian Viloria, a Fil-American who grew up in Hawaii, snatched the IBF light flyweight championship from Mexico’s Ulises Solis last month in a stunning 11th round KO at the Araneta Coliseum. This is Viloria’s second reign as a world light flyweight champion, having won the WBC version back in 2005. And like his first championship against Eric Ortiz, the right hand was the key to knocking out Solis. The challenge for now is to defend and hold on to the title for a long period. Viloria held on to his WBC title for only a year and two defenses. The Ring magazine now considers Viloria as its #1 contender behind champion Ivan Calderon.

3-0. On the same night in Cubao, Nonito Donaire demolished Raul Martinez via a fourth round TKO win to retain his IBF world flyweight title. Donaire has defended his title three times, all by knockout, but will best be remembered for his KO win over current superflyweight champion Vic Darchinyan back in 2007. The most welcome development is that the Ring magazine now considers him as the #8 boxer pound-for-pound, and #1 in the flyweight division. Things are due to change for the better later in the year as the Filipino Flash will be moving up to invade the super flyweight division (115 pounds) where there will be bigger fights (and money). Darchinyan, Jorge Arce, Alexander Munoz and Jose “Carita” Lopez are all bunched up in this division.

At this point, the country already has a world champion in the three lightest weight divisions of boxing: 105, 108 and 112 pounds. Our next champ is at 118 pounds.

3-1. Our first loss of the year was recorded by Gerry Peñalosa when he attempted to take away the belt of WBO super bantamweight champ Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez two weeks ago. This was a case of maybe doing one thing too many and beyond one’s turf for Gerry. But although he lost by TKO, we must all remember that he went up a weight class (to 122 pounds) for this fight, and that he is still recognized as the WBO’s bantamweight champion (118 pounds). He’ll have to face interim WBO bantamweight champ Fernando Montiel later in the year to hold on to his current belt. Gerry, who’s listed as # 10 among bantamweights by the Ring magazine, will then decide whether or not to call it an end to an already loaded career.

4-1. Manny Pacquiao. We all know what happened last Sunday, don’t we? Need I say more? #1 pound-for-pound and six world championships to-date: flyweight, super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and now super lightweight. While officially, the boxing organizations will claim he won only five official championships, we all know how he has dominated every division he’s entered. He is undeniably boxing’s biggest draw these days with the retirement of Oscar de la Hoya and despite the return of Floyd Mayweather. And now, there are talks of mentioning his name at the same level as Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano and boxing’s greatest in history. Wow.

5-0. Five world champs and the world’s #1 P4P boxer. Two world champs in the top ten P4P list of the Ring magazine. 2009 has been good indeed for Philippine boxing.

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Time-out: The Cebu Milo BEST Basketball Clinic will be held May 18-23, 2009 at the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit Mango Campus Gym. For more information, please contact 516-9036, 0918-939-4846 or 0923-342-8193. You can reach me at [email protected]. – THE FREEMAN