Baculi happy to see new-boy Mercado blend with stars David and Miller By Richard Dy

Sol Mercado scored seven points and issued seven assists in his first tune-up game with Globalport and, more importantly, found a way to work well with fellow stars Gary David and Willie Miller. Jerome Ascano

GLOBALPORT had just dropped its third straight tune-up game following its 84-87 loss to Air21 on Friday, yet a smile remains in new coach Junel Baculi's face.
His joy is understandable, of course, after seeing the team's newest recruit, Sol Mercado, find a way to blend with Globalport two other star guards, Gary David and Willie Miller, during the game.
"The guys respect Sol and Sol respect them too," Baculi told Spin.ph after the tune-up game at the Moro Lorenzo gym inside the Ateneo campus.
"Ang maganda pa dito, the bench was very happy unlike dati na parang gloomy. I see a very bright future for this team," added the new Globalpot bench tactician.
Mercado and rookies Kelly Nabong and JP Belencion joined the team from Meralco in a trade that saw the Batang Pier bid goodbye to Rey Guevarra, Vic Manuel, Josh Vanlandingham, and a first-round pick.
The flashy guard who led the league in scoring and assists in the Philippine Cup jumped straight into tune-up game a day after the trade, scoring seven points and issuing seven assists.
The Batang Pier also expect Japeth Aguilar, whom they acquired on Thursday in a straight swap with Talk 'N Text for Rabeh Al-Hussaini, to arrive on Monday morning.
Baculi said Friday's tune-up game will be the team's last in its Commissioner's Cup buildup as the Batang Pier focus on developing chemistry ahead of the February 8 opening.
Baculi admits import Justin Williams is not a high-scoring type of player, the reason the team is now surrounding him with several scorers. Williams scored nine points, grabbed nine rebounds and swatted away three shots against Air21.
"Iyan naman talaga ang role sa amin ni Justin. He's a defensive player kaya namin siya sinu-surround ng mga scorers," explained Baculi.

Follow the writer on Twitter: @richava

source: http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/baculi-happy-to-see-new-boy-mercado-blend-with-stars-david-and-miller

Dave Batista vs Vince Lucero

Pacquiao trainer Buboy Fernandez lays down blueprint for beating Marquez

• MANNY PACQUIAO
• OCTOBER 3, 2012
• BY: DENNIS 'D SOURCE' GUILLERMO
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Manny Pacquiao hitting the speed bags at the Wild Card Gym as Buboy Fernandez clocks in the time.

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While Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee filed their Certificate of Candidacy in Sarangani Province for the upcoming 2013 Philippine elections, his longtime and trusted buddy and assistant trainer, Buboy Fernandez, is busy studying tapes and formulating a game plan for the 8-Division World Champ in beating nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez when they tangle a fourth time on December 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fernandez stated their keys to success in beating Marquez, and emphasized the importance of solving Marquez's counter-punching. “We’re always on the offensive and often times we forget to defend that’s why Marquez’s punches get through," Fernandez told our good friend Snow Badua of PTV Sports.

Fernandez is confident with Pacquiao's abilities, and believes that they will have a solution to counter Marquez's counter-punching. “We are studying how we can fix some issues, but we don’t need to change our “National Fist”. The power is already there. The speed is already there. We can work on his movement, but the most important thing is how we’re going to handle Marquez’s counter-punching," Fernandez said.

Video: Buboy Fernandez shared blueprint in beating Juan Manuel Marquez

To help achieve this, Fernandez lauded the idea of scrapping Baguio, and Philippines as a whole, as part of their training camp. Stating the obvious, Fernandez said that there are more distractions when Pacquiao trains in the Philippines. “When you’re at the Wild Card with coach Freddie (Roach), there are no more excuses. Once you get in the ring at the Wild Card, there are no more excuses and you have to concentrate on the job at hand.”

Baguio City Mayor, Mauricio Domogan expressed his sadness in behalf of Baguio City's tourism exploits, but also said that a win by Pacquiao is what matters the most. "The important thing is that he (Pacquiao) can focus and win. It's their discretion where they can achieve that, but as you saw in the Bradley fight when he trained in Baguio, he showed a good performance, but unfortunately the judges did that to him, which is out of our hands," said Domogan.

Team Pacquiao will continue their training camp in Manila on October 8, then leave for the US on October 13.

• CLICK HERE to listen and watch the interview with Buboy Fernandez.

TOP STORY (click on the title to read story): Tenorio says Ginebra's win over Globalport is only 'a glimpse of things to come'

OTHER TOP STORIES IN FILIPINO SPORTS:

• Phillipe Nover beats Derrick Kennington in a hard-fought scrap at Bellator 74
• Ravena's late-game heroics carry Ateneo past La Salle onto UAAP Finals
• 'Buy 1, Get 4': Marquez aims to rewrite history with one win
• 'Broke your heart?': Pacquiao says Mayweather is scared and using alibis

- dSG - dsource1981@yahoo.com

** Legal waiver - By quoting, copying and using material from this article to your website, publication or blog, you agree to give full credit to Dennis 'dSource' Guillermo and Examiner.com, provide a link / hyperlink to the original article. **

Dennis is an MMA and Filipino Sports writer for Examiner.com; boxing writer for BoxingScene.com; NBA writer for NBA.com Philippines; sportswriter for the Sun Star newspaper, The Guardians newspaper in the Philippines; TV host for Fil-Am TV; contributor to PTV Sports on channel 4, 5-6 pm in the Philippines; TV5's InterAksyon.com. You can follow him on Twitter @dRealSource

source: http://www.examiner.com/article/pacquiao-s-co-trainer-buboy-fernandez-lays-down-blueprint-beating-marquez

Floyd Mayweather says "IM A RICH COWARD" manny pacquiao juan manuel marquez cotto nonito

Floyd Mayweather says "IM A RICH COWARD" manny pacquiao juan manuel marquez cotto nonito jeremy lin

 

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MMA entertains new generation of fight fans in Manila

Reuters · Tuesday, September 4, 2012 · 12:19 am

Reuters

Indelibly linked with the ‘Thrilla in Manila’, where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier laid their bitter boxing rivalry to rest some 37 years ago, the Araneta Coliseum welcomed “the future of fighting” on Friday in the Philippines’ biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) event.
A tied, yellowing banner marking the date of that brutal battle in 1975 reminded fans of the Araneta’s place in boxing history, but most of the 16,500 people packed into the domed venue were not even born when Ali met Frazier in that last great clash of heavyweight titans.
While the full contact sport of MMA has gone from strength to strength over the last 10 years, boxing, and the heavyweight division in particular, has fallen on hard times.
Years of greed and self interest, and a lack of direction from the alphabet soup of governing bodies, has brought the once proud sport to its knees. Only a handful of superstars such as the Philippines’ own Manny Pacquiao stand between boxing and sporting irrelevance.
Victor Cui, the CEO of Asia’s biggest MMA promotion ONE Fighting Championship, told Reuters one of the keys to success was figuring out what the current generation of fight fans want.
Sitting at the edge of the cage, as South Korean Kim Soo-chul rained elbows and punches down on home hope Kevin Belington, Cui said part of boxing’s demise lay in its “old school” approach.
“Manny Pacquiao walks on water here, but the days of people buying tickets and being happy just to see two people fight are long gone,” he said.
“Where MMA has succeeded is recognising the overlap between sport and entertainment. Whether it’s MMA or the Olympics or football, you have to entertain, and sports that don’t do that are going to wither and die.”
Nodding to the five star generals and the heads of major Philippine banks and corporations watching the action from the VIP section, Cui said the ‘one size fits all’ approach to hosting live events was out of date.
“From those fans up there with the beer and the cheapest tickets, to the VIPs who walk down the red carpet and enjoy a glass of wine before the fights, I have to make sure I deliver to each and every one of them,” he added.

‘THE FUTURE OF FIGHTING’
While boxing continues to bank on diehard fans shelling out for a main event and lackluster undercard on pay per view, MMA has taken to the Internet to open up new revenue streams and tries to give better value for money by stacking fight cards.
Through reality television shows and the canny utilization of social media, MMA has also become much more accessible than boxing, helping fans connect with fighters and building brand loyalty.
But while boxing has always been considered the gentlemanly form of fighting, the raw violence and lack of regulation in the early years of MMA saw it shunned and scrapping for survival.
Only after evolving from bare-knuckle brawls in underground carparks to highly-regulated bouts between professional athletes has MMA become the mainstream money-spinner it is today.
Alvin Aguilar, who helped bring MMA out of the shadows in the Philippines with his URCC promotion, said fans were frustrated by boxing – the unscrupulous promoters and overpaid fighters — and were increasingly turning to MMA.
The gloves are smaller, a steel cage stands in place of a ring, and a fighter’s fists are not his only weapon. Knees, feet and elbows are used to gain victory, as are an array of grappling submissions.
Just like boxing, however, bodies are broken, blood splashes on the canvas and fans pay good money to watch.
Barely audible above the roar as local fighter Eric Kelly smashed Jens Pulver to the ground, Aguilar said his countrymen had a long-standing love affair with combat sport.
“There’s no such thing as a Filipino man who has never been in a fist fight,” he said. “But boxing these days, it doesn’t do much to entertain fans outside of the fight itself.
“MMA entertains. For my first event I expected 500 people to come, but 5,000 showed up. I keep saying it, the next Manny Pacquiao is going to come from MMA.”
There was much to entertain the fans on Friday.
American Phil Baroni, the self-proclaimed ‘New York Bad Ass’, strode to the cage giving one-fingered salutes to the crowd. They cheered him harder.
The crowd roared when two Korean ring girls danced to the K-pop smash ‘Gangnam Style’, and went wild when a delirious photographer jumped up on the cage to join them.
Sitting in the front row, 24-year-old Arthur Navarro was loving every minute.
“I’m too young to know about Ali versus Frazier, but boxing is not enough for me,” he said. “The MMA is fast and all action. It’s the future of fighting.”

source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/mma-entertains-new-generation-of-fight-fans-in-manila

'Dynasty' in works as Jinkee, Pacman brother throw hat in political ring By the staff

Aside from Manny Pacquiao who is seeking a second time as Sarangani representative, his wife Jinkee and youngest brother Rogelio are also seeking elective posts in next year's polls. Jerome Ascano

MANNY Pacquiao looks set to widen his political clout down South as his wife Jinkee, youngest brother Rogelio, and key allies joined him in filing candidacies for next year's local elections.
Pacquiao, bidding for a second term as representative of Sarangani, filed his certificate of candidacy on Tuesday where he was joined by Jinkee who after months of speculation finally threw her hat into the political ring by running for the position of vice governor of Sarangani.
Aside from the power couple, Manny’s youngest brother Rogelio, currently chairman of Barangay Apopong in General Santos City, has now set his sights on the congressional seat of the first district of South Cotabato against representative and former mayor Pedro B. Acharon, Jr.
Another brother Bobby, the former WBO Asia Pacific lightweight titlist, is not joining the fighting Pacquiaos in the political arena but his wife could become part of a budding dynasty after being elected barangay chairman of Labangal two years ago.
Jinkee's foray into politics is expected to seal the Pacquiaos' alliance with the influential Chiongbian family. She is expected to be the running mate of current vice governor Steve Chiongbian-Solon. Sarangani Governor Miguel Dominguez is serving out his last term. 
After his People's Champ Movement had linked forces with United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay, the world-renowned boxer has moved to consolidate his political forces in his area by fielding other candidates for elective posts.
Among them are Councilor Ronnel Rivera, son of fishing magnate Rodrigo Rivera Sr., who is vying in the General Santos city mayoral race against incumbent Darlene Antonino-Custodio, the same woman who defeated Pacquiao in his first foray into politics in the 2007 congressional race in South Cotabato.
Aside from his political plans, eight-division champion Pacquiao is also preparing for his fourth fight against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez on December 10 in Las Vegas.

source: http://www.spin.ph/sports/boxing/news/dynasty-in-works-jinkee-pacman-brother-throw-hat-into-political-ring

UFC 152: Jones recovers from shaky start to dominate Belfort

Mikkel Bolante, InterAKTV · Monday, September 24, 2012 · 12:22 am

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones bucked some early adversity, getting caught in a deep armbar in the first round, before dominating challenger Vitor Belfort and finishing the fight with an americana lock in the fourth round of their main event fight of UFC 152 at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
It was Jones’ fourth successful title defense – all against former champions – as the prodigious fighter took an eighth straight victory and moved up to 11-1 in his UFC career. He finished seven of his last eight wins by either TKO or submission.
The 25-year-old Jones faced what may have been the biggest scare of his title run, though, after taking Belfort, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, down early in the fight and finding himself in an armbar that looked to have fully hyperextended his right arm. But Jones pulled out of it and eventually dominated the rest of the round, landing punishing elbows from on top and busting Belfort open before the bell, forcing the fight doctor to have to check out the cut between rounds.
Belfort was deemed okay to continue, but took a lot of damage from Jones’ kicks in the second while having trouble catching the champion. Belfort pulled guard near the end of the round and tried for a triangle attempt but still got the worse of the exchange on the ground.
Jones landed a couple more kicks in the third, including a big kick to the ribs that dropped Belfort to the mat. The champion followed him to the ground and controlled the round with some ground and pound, including more of his dangerous elbows, as he cruised to another round.
In the fourth, Belfort went down early and Jones capitalized, working his way into a mounted crucifix and locking an americana and got the submission win.
Jones admitted after the fight that Belfort had the armbar locked in very deep in the first round and that he felt his arm pop.
But that didn’t matter too much as the champion expectedly cruised to another one-sided defense.

source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/ufc-152-jones-recovers-from-shaky-start-to-dominate-belfort

Marquez already hard at work in training; Pacquiao to report second week of October

Lee Jimenez, InterAKTV · Tuesday, October 2, 2012 · 9:58 pm

Reuters

While Manny Pacquiao is neck-deep in his political career, Juan Manuel Marquez is in the thick of training in the mountains of Toluca, Mexico, as the Mexican counter-puncher revs up for his December 8 faceoff with the Filipino icon in Las Vegas.
InterAKTV was told by Mexican sources yesterday that Marquez logged 13 kilometers of roadwork in the Nevado de Toluca mountains under the watchful eyes of his long-time training assistant Raul de Anda.
Marquez complained of body pain after the first two weeks of training but the 39-year-old insists he will get used to it in due time as he expressed his excitement to bang bodies with Pacquiao at the MGM Grand.
Last week, Marquez also visited the same rugged terrain and chopped wood and hit the tire with a sledgehammer ala Rocky Balboa.
A 3-1 underdog, Marquez is confident there will be no need to stage a fifth fight because he will score a convincing stoppage victory.
Marquez said training for this fight will be focused on how to stop Pacquiao so he can prevent the judges from tinkering with the score sheets.
Pacquiao countered that he will do the same thing to prove that his two wins over Marquez were genuine.
But Pacquiao won’t be reporting for training at the Wild Card until the second week of October and yesterday, he actually filed his candidacy for congressman of Sarangani.

source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/marquez-already-hard-at-work-in-training-pacquiao-to-report-second-week-of-october