January 2008 Philippine Boxing Updates

Pacman vs. Hitman

These past few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz about a possible super fight between Pinoy boxing star, Manny Pacquiao and British boxing star, Ricky Hatton.

Since Ricky Hatton is about the same height as Manny and has a two inch reach disadvantage, some people have argued that it would be a good match up. In terms of weight, Pacquaio had weighed in at around 140 lbs. at fight time, which is around Hatton's usual weight.

This is not a good match up in my opinion because even if both fighters are of the same height, I don't think that they are of the same size and weight. Hatton would be the natural bigger man and has a big advantage in size. Pacman weighed at about 140 at the night of some of his fights but I think Hatton for his part weighed over 150 lbs in most of his fights. hatton has also been known to balloon in weight before fight training.

Furthermore, Hatton has been fighting at 140 lbs and more for most his career and is used to taking shots from fighters in this weight class. On the other hand, Manny has fought from 106 lbs to 130 lbs, and fighting at 140 lbs would diminish his speed. Let's face it, Manny's speed is a huge factor in his success as a boxer.

Of course, this fight can bring a lot of money to both fighters because of their huge fan base and it is an exciting match up as both fighters love to mix it up. However, Pacquiao faces big disadvantages against Hatton so I don't think that this fight would happen. On the other hand, if Manny wins convincingly against Marquez, then anything can happen.


Gerry, Boom Boom and AJ

Gerry Penalosa is scheduled to defend his bantamweight title against Ratanachai Sor Vorapin on March 2 at the Araneta Coliseum. About seven years ago, Gerry knocked Sor Vorapin out in six rounds in a minor title defense. However, Sor Vorapin has stayed active since then and has manged to win the WBO bantamweight title. he lost the title to Jhonny Gonzalez who in turn lost it to Gerry last year.

Pinoy boxing prospects Banal and Bautista have been scheduled to fight in the undercard of this boxing event. Banal has kept his winning streak alive while Bautista is on the comeback trail after suffering his first lost. I hope our fighters can come up with victories this March and continue the success Philippine boxing has experienced last year.

4 World Champs for Philippine Boxing!

Donnie "Ahas" Nietes' hard fought win last weekend over Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym of Thailand for the the vacant WBO world Minimumweight Title, the Philippines currently has 4 world boxing champions. Pinoy boxing stars Florante Condes, Nonito Donaire,Gerry Penalosa, and Donnie Nietes now hold world championship belts. Well, technically they are not world champions because boxing has been split up into various governing bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, WBU, etc...)that recognize it's own champions for every division. The proper term might be world titlist because they hold a part of the World championship. Unless these Filipino boxing champs cannot unify the world titles in their divisions, then I think they cannot be declared as true world champions.

Let us relive how this Pinoy boxing heroes bought glory to their country through this videos:

Let us begin with Nonito Donaire's impressive KO win over Vic Darchinyan:




Then we have Gerry Penalosa's liver shot KO win over Jhonny Gonzalez



This is the third round of the Condes-Rachman fight in which COndes captured the title by split decision. This round was a big one for Condes as he was able to knock Rachman down on his back.



And finally this is Donnie Nietes in action against the very tough Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym. This is the fourth round in which Nietes scored a knockdown on his way to a unanimous decision win.



Let us hope that our Philippine boxing champions can defend their titles successfully follow in the footstps of Manny Pacquiao and other Filipino boxing legends.

Donnie "Ahas" Nietes' Chance for Glory

This Sunday, ALA Boy, Donnie "Ahas" Nietes will attempt to join Gerry Penalosa, Florante Condes and Nonito Donaire as world titlists. This Pinoy boxing prospect will face the equally impressive Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym of Thailand for the the vacant WBO world Minimumweight Title.

This is a video of Donnie Nietes (21-1-3 with 13 KO's) in action against Saengpetch Sor Sakulphan also of Thailand. The video shows why this Philippine boxing rising star is nicknamed "Ahas" or snake. He knocked out his opponent with an uppercut that resembled a snake strike (well at least from my view).



Nietes won't find it easy to win the title for Filipino boxing as the talented Pornsawan Porpramook Kratingdaenggym of Thailand is standing in his way. Kratingdaenggym has an impressive record of of 20 wins without any losses or draws with 15 knock outs.

A quick look of their records shows that Kratingdaenggym has faced better opposition. The Thailander has faced Heri Amol (21-5-3), Benjie Sorolla (21-11-3), and Sonny Boy Jaro (22-4-3). On the other hand, Nietes has only faced two opponents with decent records namely, Heri Amol (21-4-3) and Abrin Matta 18-3-2.

Pornsawan is also condfident of winning as he expressed in his opening statement to the media: "I'm very excited in my first trip to the Philippines. But I'm also very confident of beating Nietes. I've prepared long and hard for this fight,"

Well' the only way to determine who will come out on top is by letting these fine athletes perform in the ring. I hope that with the crowd behind him, Nietes can pull out a victory.

Pinoy Boxing Team Captures Boxing World Cup!!!

The Philippine boxing team won five of the six bouts at stake at the 'World Cup' of Boxing held at the Arco Arena. The grand boxing event was held in front of a highly-partisan crowd of 4,469 screaming fans for both countries.

Pinoy boxing has solidified its position as the world's boxing superpower by snatching the title away from long-reigning Mexico. As you probably know, Mexico has been the breeding ground for great boxing talents for several decades.

Gerry Penalosa contributed the biggest win when he wrested the WBO bantam title from Mexican champ Jhonny Gonzalez with a come-from-behind knockout win. He hit Gonzales with a paralyzing body shot in the seventh round.

However, it was Z Gorres who sealed the Filipinos' victory. He stopped former WBC champ Eric Ortiz with an eighth-round technical knockout to earn the fourth win for the Philippine boxing team.

Diosdado Gabi of Davao City was the first winner for Team philippines by earning an eight-round unanimous decision over Mexico's Jose Angel Beranza. Michael Domingo then followed it up with a six-round masterful unanimous win over previously unbeaten Miguel Roman. The Domingo-Roman bout was considered one of the most exciting fight of the night and really excited the crowd for the main event.

Cebu's AJ 'Bazooka' Banal completed the five victories needed to secure the World Cup trophy by stopping Jorge Cardenas in the third round of their scheduled six-rounder. He dis[played great power and skill as he repeatedly hit his Mexican opponent with flushed shots culminating with an explosive counter that dropped Cardenas. Cardenas seems to have twisted his knee preventing him from standing up and continuing the fight.

However, the Pinoy boxing team did not sweet all six matches as Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista experienced a very painful first round KO defeat at the hands of Daniel Ponce de Leon. Bautista has expressed a desire to retire after this defeat so we have to wait and see if he decides to return to the ring. I hope he decides to continue his career as he is still young and this setback can make him a better fighter.

The Philippines Greatest Boxers

I found another great boxing article. It gives a top ten list of the the Philippines' greatest boxers and was written by John Gregg.

The article also included a brief summary of the fighters' greatest achievements and other details such as the weight class they competed on and the length of their title reigns. Among the top ten are active fighter such as Manny Pacquiao and Gerry Penalosa. The list also included fighter who have long since hang up their gloves like, Gabriel "Flash" Elorde, Francisco "Pancho Villa" Guilledo, Ceferino Garcia and Ben Villaflor.


Randy Suico Update

Randy “Kumo’ng Bato” Suico is scheduled to defend his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) lightweight belt in Cebu on July 21. He is expected to have his hands full against Japanese challenger Koji Samejima. The venue of the fight has yet to be announced.

Suico holds a 26-3 (22KOs) while Samejima, who is on a four-fight winning streak, including three straight by knockouts, parades a 15-1-1, 6KOs record.

This will be Suico’s second reign defense after taking the title over Pongpetch Chuwatana of Thailand in October 2006. Last April 23, he had difficulty catching up with the quick-footed Tomonori Nakagawa. Fortunately, he held on to a unanimous win over the Japanese challenger in his first defense with the help of his great heart.