Swim coach in town

Southeast Asian Games silver and bronze medalist Kendrick Lim Uy of UP said the other day a key to taking the national swimming team to the next level is hiring a foreign coach and PASA president Mark Joseph couldn’t agree more.

American coach Rick Powers, 64, arrived last week to conduct camps and clinics and assist PASA in organizing a league of grassroots meets.

“Rick has worked in 10 countries with top-level swimmers and handled IOC and FINA clinics in 30 others,” said Joseph. “He will generally help us to deliver world-class programs faster. Though he will still be conducting clinics in other countries, he will be spending most of his time with us. Manila will be his base. His first project will be an All-Visayas clinic hosted by Gov. Emilio Macias of Negros Oriental in December. He will be introduced to the swimming community at the Masskara swimfest in Bacolod on Oct. 17.”

Joseph said foreign coaches showing interest in PASA is like manna from heaven.

“Our contract does not stipulate a fixed salary, only a single training site arrangement,” he continued. “He will share his knowledge all over the country in camps and clinics. Training camps are new to the Philippine swimming community but it’s one of the secrets of success in other countries. Camps are done progressively over a period of years. The camaraderie is great, too. Until PASA had its registration program in place and implemented rules against illegal recruitment, many coaches would not allow their swimmers to join camps because they were afraid other coaches would recruit their talented swimmers away. Now, we have a coach-of-record system and rules to prevent that.”

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No Filipino fighter has ever won in Panama. In 1969, former Oriental champion Curly Aguirre was knocked out in four rounds by Panamanian legend Ismael Laguna. In 1974, Flash Gallego was stopped by another Panamanian great Roberto Duran and Socrates Batoto was also trounced by still another Panamanian world champion Jorge Lujan. In 1975, Lujan knocked out Filipino Catalino Flores in Panama. 

The only Filipino to beat a Panamanian was Flash Elorde who decked Laguna twice en route to scoring a unanimous 10-round decision in Manila in 1966.

Oriental titlist Rolly (Matsushita) Lunas of Albay tries to break the Filipino jinx when he takes on WBA bantamweight king Anselmo Moreno at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City on Oct. 30.

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North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Pinol likened the Dec. 6 bout between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya to the 1971 encounter where the shorter Joe Frazier upset Muhammad Ali in a battle of undefeated heavyweights.

Here’s a brief summary of what happened in the Ali-Frazier bout, taken from “The Boxing Companion” by Richard O’Brien:

“That bout, held on March 8, 1971, remains, amid all the Fights of the Century, the quintessential Big Fight. The boxer, Ali, against the puncher, Frazier. They were fighting for the richest purse in history (at that point), $2.5 million each, and the entire country watched.

“The fight lived up to its billing, fifteen of the busiest, most stubborn rounds ever fought by heavyweights. In the end, Frazier’s relentless, remorseless pressure exposed the rust of Ali’s gifts and Joe’s big left hook put Ali down. He got up but he had lost. Still, in getting up, he earned a grudging respect.”

By the way, at the time of the fight, Frazier was 27 with 27 bouts and Ali, 29 with 31 bouts. Smokin’ Joe weighed in at 205 1/2 and Ali, 215.

Pacquiao stands 5-6 1/2 with a 67-inch wingspan while De la Hoya, 5-10 1/2 with a 73-inch wingspan. Ali is 3 1/2 inches taller than Frazier with a seven-inch reach advantage.

Pinol is putting his money on Pacquiao.

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Newly crowned WBC International superbantamweight champion Balweg Bangoyan, 21, traces his roots to the indigenous Manobo tribe. He is a distant cousin of Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur, Mayor Zander Khan whose mother Josefina is a Bangoyan. Khan’s father Mauritz Wangkay, 73, is Indonesian.

The fighter’s father Felix works in Khan’s security detail and mother Medilyn Miyaki is a housewife of Japanese descent. He is the eldest of five children. A high school sophomore dropout, Bangoyan was jailed for a street rumble when he was 16. 

Two of Bangoyan’s uncles were former boxing champions and he’s following in their footsteps. Armand Bangoyan, also Khan’s uncle, was a Philippine superbantamweight and superfeatherweight titleholder. He was killed in an unsolved ambush in 1985. Little Bangoyan was a former Philippine superbantamweight and featherweight champion now working as a trainer in a Manila fitness gym.