Philippine Sports News for Filipino fans around the world

LAS VEGAS — Stripped of the title, then got disqualified by the referee — all in a span of 24 hours.
This, in a nutshell, pretty much summarizes the dismal stint of Manny Pacquiao’s younger bro Bobby, who on Thursday (Friday in Manila) saw his misfortunes turn from horrible to humiliating after getting disqualified for repeated [...]

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The World Boxing Council (WBC) has ordered Mexican hombre Marco Antonio Barrera to face in a mandatory defense of his super featherweight title the winner of the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight on Nov. 18 in Las Vegas.
The decision was announced by WBC president Jose Sulaiman during the organization’s 44th annual convention in Dubrovnik, Croatia yesterday [...]

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Philippine boxing hero Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao is discipline personified when it comes to work. As part of his preparation for his “Grand Finale”

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Of course, we already knew featherweight Jimrex Jaca of the Philippines wouldn’t stand a chance against interim titlist, Juan Manuel Marquez.

Apparently, Jimrex Jaca was suppose to fight Juan Manuel Marquez, the same man who denied Filipino ”superhero,” Manny Pacquiao, for an HBO main event entitled ”Mexican Glory,” a PPV card from Golden Boy Promotions.

Mexican Glory. Yep, the title itself suggests Mexican victory already.

Well, Jimrex Jaca was KO’d even before he gets in the ring with the vicious Mexican champion. Who knocked the Filipino out?

Visa.

Jimrex Jaca was having problems with his visa, and after several days of waiting, Golden Boy promotions finally pulled the plug.

”Jaca is out of the main event. It’s a real shame,” Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez said about 90 minutes before he and Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya were to board a private plane to go to El Paso to break the news to Marquez.

Manuel Marquez record stands at 45-3-1, with that single tie belonging to…

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Pacquiao’s idol
In an interview, Manny Pacquiao cited Gabriel “Flash” Elorde as one of his boxing idols. And for good reason. Elorde is considered to be one of the greatest fighters to have come out of the Asia-Pacific region.

From 1952 to ’67, Elorde was either a national, regional or a world champion. He turned pro in 1951 at the age of 16, had his first 11 fights in his hometown of Cebu, winning 10 and losing once via knockout.

The following year, Elorde won the national bantamweight title in Manila. He then flew to Tokyo, where he won the Oriental bantamweight crown via a 12-round decision over Hiroshi Horiguchi.

In 1953, he lost his bid for the national featherweight crown, losing to Larry Bataan in Manila. He also lost a 12-round verdict to Japanese junior lightweight champ Masashi Akiyama in Tokyo.

His quest for success finally bore fruit in 1954. After dropping another 12-rounder against Shigeji Kaneko for the Oriental 126-pound belt, Elorde beat Tommy Romulo in Manila to win the Philippine junior lightweight crown. And despite losing the national title in 1955, he surprised everyone when he outpointed reigning featherweight king Sandy Saddler over 10 rounds in a non-title fight in Manila.

That match catapulted Elorde to world fame. Now a world-ranked fighter, Elorde flew to San Francisco in January 1956 for a rematch against Saddler, this time with the title on the line. The challenger fought brilliantly, but a cut over his eye forced the bout to be stopped in the 13th round. Elorde won as he was ahead in all the judges’ cards. It was to be Saddler’s last title defense.

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