SPORTS

By Alex Vidal

‘Akoh Ang Tahtahposh’

"It’s yesterday once more" CARPENTERS

The three judges appointed by the Nevada Athletic Sports Association and the World Boxing Council (WBC) to officiate the "Grand Finale" brawl between Emmanuel "The Pacman" Pacquiao and Erik "El Terible" Morales on November 19 (Panay time) in Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada are the following: -Guido Cavaliere of Italy -Glenn Trowbridge of USA -Doug Tucker of USA. Since there are three scoring judges in the ringside, the referee, Vic Drakulich of Nevada , will devote his time to acting as third man in the ring. He will not anymore act as "scoring referee" which is a common practice in the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF), WBC’s regional organization.
There were attempts in the past to "smuggle" a Filipino judge in Las Vegas fights but due to the big number of US-based ring arbiters queuing for juicy assignments, we found it hard to duplicate the feats of the now retired Carlos Padilla, Jr., father-in-law of Dolphy. I had the privilege to personally meet the then 50-year old Drakulich during the 2002 WBC World Convention. He was introduced to me by my friend and colleague in the OPBF and World Boxing Foundation (WBF), Bruce McTavish of New Zealand. McTavish, 65, who now lives in Angeles City, Pampanga is one of the top 50 referees in the world today, said Drakulich is a competent and strict referee and does not hesitate to deduct points for a minor infraction if he felt there is a need to penalize an erring fighter.

DRAKULICH AND THE 3 PINOY PUGS

When Silay City, Negros Occidental journeyman Reynante Jamili was annihilated by Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez (remember him? He drew with Pacquiao in 2003) in Reno, Nevada, Drakulich was the referee. Jamili had also suffered a heart-braking two-round knockout loss to Pacquiao in 2001 when Pacquiao turned his back from the flyweight division to campaign first in the junior featherweight division prior to invading the featherweight and subsequently the superfeatherweight or junior lightweight where Pacquiao is now the WBC "international" kingpin.
The word "international" means Pacquiao is titleholder "only" of a boxing crown for boxers rated from No. 11 to 20. When Jesus Salud, a Hawaiian of Filipino descent, was tore to pieces by Kennedy McKenney (a one-time KO victim of ex-WBC bantamweight ruler Luisito Espinosa) in Stateline, Navada sometime in 1993, Drakulich also called the shots in the ring. Earlier this year, Rodel Mayol of Mandaue City, Cebu failed in his bid to capture the WBC strawweight from Eagle Kiowa in Osaka, Japan in a fight officiated by Drakulich. Who knows, Pacquiao might be the first Filipino pug to break the Drakulich jinx?

TEXT MESSAGE FROM MCTAVISH

Every now and then, I receive a text message from McTavish. In his last text message, McTavish predicted that Pacquiao will win by knockout in six rounds. "Manny is so strong, Alex. Erik can’t handle his force," he said. There had been several times that I disagreed with McTavish. In the first Pacquiao-Morales duel, he also predicted that Pacquiao would demolish Morales in six rounds. I disagreed and predicted then that Morales would whip the Gen. Santos City on points. I won. But on July 2, 2006, McTavish again saw a stoppage win for the Filipino pugilist.
This time, McTavish hit the jackpot. In this "Grand Finale" on November 19, however, I saw Morales taking the fight to the full route and registering an impressive unanimous decision victory. Erik is right when he claimed that "Akoh ang tahtahposh" NOTE:
I have been telling some of my fellow sports enthusiasts that after the 2006 World Pool Championship in Manila, the billiards configuration in the country as well as in Asia will experience a dramatic transformation following the eye-popping exploits displayed by relatively unheralded cute artists such as Jerome Peña, Jeff De Luna, Roberto Gomez, and, who else, but the enigmatic Ronnie Alcano.
We have been brainwashed that only Bata Reyes and Django Bustamante can bring home the bacons in world pool and other international billiards tours. Had other contemporary Filipino pool hustlers been given the opportunity to participate in the US and European circuits in the past, we could have produced more than Bata Reyes, Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan.
These gentlemen are only lucky and privileged because rich patrons bankrolled their trips abroad. If these patrons, Puyat brothers specifically, will also afford the same privileges to De Luna, Peña, Gomez, Morta and other "pipitsugin" players, we could have produced the youngest world pool champion ahead of Chinese-Taipei which produced 16-year-old phenom Wu Chia-ching in 2005. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com