Bleacher Talk

Bleacher Talk April 1, 2007 MVBA, NBC & Regional Basketball They’re back. They’re solid and won’t go down. Regional Basketball. Just when skeptics and critics (like yours truly) refused to believe that a national league involving different regions with a home-and-away set-up would survive, not one, but two leagues are proving that regional basketball is very much alive in the country. Within weeks of each other, the National Basketball Conference (NBC) and Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) kicked off its respective 2007 seasons. While we praise both leagues for being persistent and focused on its efforts to promote regional basketball, we can’t avoid asking why they have to exist as separate leagues. I have also wanted to ask both leagues how they’re doing from the financial or business standpoint, but I don’t think I’ll ever get a clear answer on that. And since they’ve insisted to launch their respective tournaments, we can’t help but compare both leagues. If one tal

Bleacher Talk March 25, 2007 Honorable Judges? One of the most stressful moments of a boxing match is when the fight goes the full route. When the final bell is heard, you can hear TV commentators say, “Well that’s it fight fans. The boxers have given it their all, and it’s all now in the hands of the judges.” “In the hands of the judges. “ Why don’t I like that line? For boxers, it’s so hard to imagine how the winner of a match has to be decided by three different persons who are sitting there and not doing any of the punching. “I’m here doing all the punching and receiving of punches and I have to wait for the ring announcer to see if I won, “they’re all thinking at the end of a fight. For the fans, the lull after the final bell becomes a time of anxiety especially when the fight is a close one. They’re left hanging since they won’t know the winner of a fight until the official announcement is made. On the other hand, the other sports events that they watch (basketball, 9-ball, badmi

Bleacher Talk March 18, 2007 ABS-CBN vs. GMA in Boxing? March 18, 2007 was a date we were looking forward to around six months ago when it was announced that this date was booked for the much-awaited rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. That was then. But while we’ll still take time out to watch the fights over TV, we’ll do so with a different twist this time now that Pacquiao is not in the ring. As boxing fans eagerly make their own forecasts and analysis, there’s a welcome development in boxing that has gone quietly unnoticed, but which could explode to become something as big as a Pacquiao-Barrera (or Marquez) rematch. For the first time in a very long time, it now looks like local TV’s biggest giants are now looking to be more involved in boxing. Ladies and gentlemen, this is TV’s main event of the year. Fighting out of the blue corner, a TV giant fighting out of Kapamilya stable, presenting ABS-CBN! His opponent fighting out of the red corner, from the Kapuso

Bleacher Talk March 11, 2007 Can We Make it to the Olympics? I guess it’s never too late for anything, or is it? The Philippine team that will attempt to bring the tri-colors of the nation back to the Olympics after 34 years of absence has been officially announced. Members of the team are guards Jimmy Alapag, Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa, Dondon Hontiveros and Renren Ritualo. The forwards are Danny Seigle, Rudy Hatfield, Tony de la Cruz, Ranidel de Ocampo and Kerby Raymundo. The centers are Asi Taulava and Mick Pennisi. The team’s alternates are Enrico Villanueva, Rommel Adducul and Rafi Reavis. The team was officially made known to the public in a simple press briefing, but the impact of the announcement has rippled throughout the country as a sign of victory for the now-united basketball family. With the BAP-SBP finally getting an official recognition from both the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and FIBA, the country is back as a “legal” basketball member of the internationa

Gejon Trounces Thai Manila – Eriberto “Yuka” Gejon relied on his superior skills to score a lopsided unanimous decision win over a tough Visan Sor Suchanya of Thailand Saturday night at the "Rambulan Sa Sulaiman" at the Rajah Sulaiman Park in Manila. Judges Romy Yulo and Cris Odulio both scored the bout 100-91 for Gejon, while Henry Verniz scored the bout 100-90, giving the Wakee Salud boxer a virtual shut-out win. Although the scores indicate that it was a one-sided affair, Gejon had to overcome a game and stubborn Suchanya who was both tough to hit and put away. Suchanya took in every punch that Gejon threw and managed to land a few punches in between exchanges. Gejon had difficulty scoring through Suchanya’s peek-a-boo defense in the early going, but finally found his mark when his right uppercuts started to land consistently. Each time Suchanya pressed the action and get up close, Gejon used a right uppercut to open up the Thai’s defense and stop him on his tracks. And w

Bleacher Talk March 4, 2007 Class Act: “This is corporate.” They say that the level of success or greatness of an event can be measured by how much talk the event is able to generate a day or more after the event takes place. Obviously, the longer the period of talk, the greater the event was. Conversely, no post-event talk means no success or the event was a downright flop. Now when will people stop talking about the “Moment of Truth?” When will all “oohs” and “ahs” finally die down? It’s still very much fresh and hotly discussed in the many different conversations of both boxing fans and the ordinary people. And controversy or not, it’s also very much a hot topic among boxing journalists most especially in cyberspace. Not bad for a card headlined by a world championship fight that isn’t even at the level of the big stars of world boxing. But as talks, stories and forums will dwell on the Montiel-Gorres controversy, the scoring of judges Raul Caiz and Chuck Giampa, the two one-point d