Gabriel "Flash" Elorde

Today, January 2 marks the death anniversary of the late Gabriel "Flash" Elorde. Now, I don't know a lot about Elorde because his career ended before I was born. However, I have heard a lot about him from Filipino and international boxing writers and analysts. He is also regarded by most as the greatest Filipino boxer of all-time.

Here is an article written in tribute of this great Pinoy boxing legend:

REMEMBERING 'FLASH' ELORDE by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde was the youngest in a family of sixteen, born into a poor farmer’s home in the town of Bogo. His poverty served not as a burden but as a challenge.

Elorde walked off the streets of Cebu where he worked as a pier hand, a dishwasher on an inter-island cargo boat and a pinboy in a bowling alley to punch his way to the world junior lightweight crown, in the process winning international acclaim and the hearts of millions of his countrymen.

The Philippines has been blessed with a long line of remarkable champions from Pancho Villa to Ceferino Garcia and in more recent times the incredible Manny Pacquiao. But in the fascinating history of boxing, Gabriel "Flash" Elorde stands out as the greatest of all time, not merely for his incredible skill and raw courage but even more so for the exemplary human qualities that shone like a beacon among the heroes of our time.

One of the greatest fighters to ever come out of the Asia-Pacific region, Elorde was born on March 25, 1935 and turned professional when he was barely 16.

An excellent boxer, the famed southpaw became an oriental champion at all weights - from bantamweight to lightweight.
In an active career Elorde had 44 title fights, 15 for world titles, and was involved in at least one every year from 1952 to 1967.
Read the rest of this article at Philboxing.com

Elorde also has a great record and fought great fighters like Sandy Saddler. You can personally check his fight record People say that he was a great man inside and outside the ring. he also had the same electrifying and unifying effect as Philippine boxing icon, Manny Pacquiao.

I hope that we will have more boxing greats like Pacquiao and Elorde in the future. Boxing is currently enjoying a "golden age" as we have four world champions and an elite boxing icon. We should use this time to develop our country's boxing program so that we will have more boxing greats in the future. Let me end this post with a picture of Elorde in action against fellow Hall of Famer, Sandy Saddler.

The Manny Pacquiao of the 70's

I found out about this great video from a boxing forum...



The star of that video is Ben Villaflor one of the former Pinoy boxing champions. He held the WBA world Junior Lightweight (now called Super Featherweight) championship during part of the 1970s. He won the wored championship belt by knocking out the champion Kuniaki Shibata in the first round (see the video above). The two combatants fought to a 15 round draw when they fought about seven months before the fight.

Some people describe him as the Pacman of the 70's because of his Southpaw style and his punching power. Of course, it might also be reversed it and we can also describe Manny as the Ben Villaflor of today.

Villaflor ended his career with a record of 54 wins (31 KO's) , 8 losses and seven draws. Six of his losses happened during the early part of his career. He fought for the last time when he lost the title to fellow 130 pound great Samuel Serrano by unanimous decision. Villaflor was never stopped in his career and stands among the best fighters in Philippine boxing history.

Pretty Boy KO's the Hitman

This weekend, "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather scored an impressive win over previously undefeated British boxing star, Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton.

Mayweather's KO win was a surprise as most boxing fans did not expect Mayweather to go toe to toe with Hatton. Floyd utilized slick movement, quickness and hand speed to earn convincing decisions over his previous opponents. I personally felt that it would be unwise for him to engage Ricky Hatton in close quarters. However, Floyd's talent and underrated toughness allowed him to overcome Hatton's attack en route to scoring a knock out.

This win solidifies Mayweather's standing as the top Pound for Pound fighter in the world. This puts him well ahead of Manny Pacquiao who is considered by many to be the second man in the P4P list. The Pinoy boxing star can still catch up with Pretty Boy if he pulls off an impressive performance against Juan Manuel Marquez next year. However, winning against Marquez will be a difficult challenge for the Philippine boxing icon.

The next question would be what's next for Mayweather. A possible bout against Miguel Cotto is a boxing fan's dream. However, that is up to Mayweather who might just make good on his decison to retire from boxing. He is 30 years old which is not too old for his weight class and he is obviously at the top of his game. I hope that he will fight Cotto next year in another mega fight.

Pinoy Boxing Stars Score Impressive Wins

Philippine boxing was again in the limelight this weekend when three of its stars scored victories against Mexican opponents.

Filipino boxing star Nonito Donaire was out to prove that his KO victory over Vic Darchinyan was no fluke against Mexico's Luis Maldonado. Donaire, the reigning IBF and IBO flyweight ruler dominated mandatory challenger Luis Maldonado en route to a via eighth-round technical knockout victory at the Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket,
Connecticut.

Donaire went off in an impressive start against Maldonado as he ripped the challenger with accurate and crisp left hooks and right crosses. Donaire's punches caused cuts in both of Maldonado's eyes and it seemed that the challenger would not be able to last the champions firepower. However, Maldonado was able to put himself together and scored with some big shots as Donaire began throwing wide punches in the hopes of finishing the bleeding challenger.

The challenger's hope were dashed when Donaire resumed his accurate counter punching barrage and neutralized his challengers attacks. Maldonado finally succumbed to the champions assault in the closing seconds of the seventh round. The brave challenger answered the bell for the eight round but was met with aggression and power punches from the champion. Donaire rained punches on his bleeding opponent as the challenger covered up along the ropes forcing the referee to stop the contest. This TKO victory proved that Donaire is no one punch wonder and has the talent to become successful in the flyweight division.

Filipino boxing prospects, Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal also delivered wins for Pinoy boxing at a card held at he Araneta Coliseum. Bautista made the first step towards his comeback to contender status with a morale boosting unanimous decision win over Antonio 'Barrio' Meza of Mexico. The scores were 117-111, 116-112, and 118-110 for Bautista in his first win after being annihilated by Daniel Ponce de Leon.

AJ 'Bazooka' Banal, an undefeated Pinoy boxing prospect continued to impress with a brilliant performance against Mexican Jovanny Soto. The two fighters went against each other with desire to win but Banal's superior talent and power lead to a 9th round KO win for the Filipino boxer.

These victories will whet Pinoy boxing fans appetite for the super rematch between MNanny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. The superfeatherweight stars produced a thriller in their first meeting and their long anticipated rematch has fight of the year potential.

Pacman Art Gallery!

This is a Manny Pacquiao portrait collection. These works of art are made by the Pinoy boxing star's inspired fans.





















I hope that this creative display of talent will also inspire you to create you own portrait. :)

Rare Double Knockdown!

This is a very exciting video of a rare double knockdown:



A double knockdown happens when two fighters were knocked down at the time. Of course in this video the referee mistakenly ruled that both fighters slipped maybe because both fighters got back up so quickly after being down.

The fighters involved in this uncommon occurrence are "The Contender" participant, Cornelius K9 Bundrage and contender Sechew Powell. The fight was over after only about 20 seconds. It seems K9 was more affected by the double knockdown than Powell.

Pacquiao-Marquez Purse Squabbles

I just read an interesting article from Michael Marley of boxing confidential.com. He wrote about the current fight purse negotiations for the rematch between Pinoy boxing sensation, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Here are the first few paragraphs of his article entitled No More Bargain Basement Deals

What’s fair is fair. Can Juan Manuel Marquez make a big purse with anyone other than Manny Pacquiao? I don’t think so, do you?

So let’s do the right thing if, indeed, this is going to be Megamanny’s March 15 fight. Let Pacman out of the financial strait jacket which says he can only get 57 percent of the total purse if his opponent is a Golden Boy fighter.

Let Oscar and his pals stretch what Manny gets to 70 percent and give 30 percent to the champ. Pacquaio is the name which will sell the PPV, not JMM’s. I mean even Stevie Wonder can see that.

You can read the rest of this article by clicking HERE

Personally, I don't really care about how much Marquez or Pacquiao will receive as the purse for this fight. As a boxing fan, all I want to see is for the rematch to happen. It's clear that this IS the best fight in the superfeatherweight/juniorlightweight division. Fans from both camps are begging for this fight to be made.

Of course, I understand that the percentage is important because it amounts to millions of dollars. However, we boxing fans do not want another canceled rematch between these excellent fighters because of disagreements over the purse. I guess Pacman will still be alright financially if the fight will not be made. He can still make great money by fighting at lightweight. But I don't think boxing fans will be satisfied with not seeing a rematch. I guess all we can do is hope that both parties can reach an agreement.