Fire Quinito rounds up all the best reads from the aftermath of Pinoy Power 2, so you can sit back and continue to wonder why Willie Revillame still has a job.

Gabriel Montoya, Max Boxing: “[Rafael] Concepcion came out smoking landing hard left hooks that got [Nonito] Donaire’s attention. Donaire answered by digging into Concepcion’s body early and often. A right by Concepcion landed and seemed to incense Donaire who jumped all over him and unloaded a few rights in an attempt to tame him. By the end of the second, Concepcion was cut over his left eye and Donaire had eaten enough left hands to change his tactics up a bit. Donaire came out looking to box and move around the large ring. His quicker feet and hands allowed him to stay on the outside and pick and peck, slip and slide his way around the slower but hard charging Concepcion. In the middle rounds, Concepcion began to catch up and corner Donaire, putting hard and heavy hands on him and forcing the ‘Filipino Flash’ to stand and fight. This seemed to favor the bigger and stronger Concepcion who rocked Donaire and worked his way through the Flash’s leaky defense. Donaire steeled himself as the fight progressed to the championship rounds and regained control, moving and boxing from the outside. It became a case of ‘win this one look good in the next one.’ However, Concepcion did not go quietly and the two traded hard down the stretch of what was billed as a showcase fight for Donaire but ended up being a very good little scrap.”

Continue reading "Boxing mop-up: Nonito Donaire's big win, Bernabe Concepcion's ugly loss"

I wrote a piece over at FHM on how to beat the Ateneo Blue Eagles, who are looking as dominant as they did during their championship run. I am, of course, an expert at these things, since I'm a fan of the UP Fighting Maroons, who handed Ateneo it's only loss in the current UAAP tournament.

My original draft ran much longer, and had jokes about Lady Gaga, Joshua Webb, Mark Barroca, Eman Monfort, and annoying scenesters that come out to these games, that will never see the light of day. It’s probably all for the best.

Fighting recently broke out again in Mindanao’s Basilan province, with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asking the military to crush the rebel group Abu Sayyaf. Opposition senators, however, came up with an alternative: Let boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter, Manny Pacquiao, negotiate with rebels in Mindanao.

Continue reading "Suggestion from brilliant Philippine senators: Let Manny Pacquiao talk peace with Mindanao rebels"

Normally, I wouldn’t devote a whole post to a GMA Telebabad show, but I wanted to give a heads-up to all the readers of this blog, because one of the castaways in tonight’s Survivor Philippines Palau premiere will be former PBA player Chris ‘Jumbo’ Bolado.

Pinoy fans would of course remember Bolado’s ‘lucky’ run in the mid-90s, when he was part of Alaska’s grand slam season in 1996. The following season, he was traded to Purefoods, who immediately won the subsequent All-Filipino Conference. Purefoods shipped him to Ginebra (in exchange for EJ Feihl) the very next conference… and Ginebra won the championship! This was the memorable Chris King championship run that Gary Granada sang about.

Continue reading "Airing tonight: Survivor Philippines Palau starring Chris ‘Jumbo’ Bolado"

Steven Luevano, Nonito Donaire, Rafael Concepcion, and Bernabe Concepcion

I tuned in to Pinoy Power 2, and the first bout I watched was a terribly familiar sight. It was a fight I’d seen a thousand times before: the Filipino challenger, all heart and no head, stalking the wily foreign champion, who keeps his distance and tags his opponents with timely hits. It’s every other boxing fight by every other Filipino boxer, and watching it gave me no reason to think that the result would be any different. In this case, it was Filipino boxer Bernabe Concepcion against Mexican champion Steven Luevano.

Continue reading "Pinoy Power 2: Bernabe Concepcion gets DQ’d, Nonito Donaire escapes El Torito"

So, Filipino basketball fan: how do you prefer your heart to be broken?

Do you prefer your team to play listlessly, running around like headless chickens, and being dazed and confused for 40 minutes, as Team Pilipinas did Saturday against Qatar, where they looked like they were still licking their wounds from their quarterfinal loss to Jordan?

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Team Pilipinas ends its campaign with back-to-back losses"

Fire Quinito rounds up all the must-read news leading up to Pinoy Power 2, featuring Nonito Donaire vs. Rafael Concepcion and Bernabe Concepcion vs. Steven Luevano, so that you could save time to ogle Marian Rivera’s turn as the latest Darna.

Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports: “Rafael Concepcion, the former interim World Boxing Association super flyweight champion, failed to make the division’s 115-pound limit Friday at the Hard Rock Hotel for his Saturday night bout for the interim belt against Nonito Donaire. Concepcion, who in his last two outings prior to the Donaire fight weighed in at 127 and 120 pounds, weighed in at 119 ½. Concepcion will be fined $13,000, 20 percent of original purse. Donaire weighed in at 115.”

Continue reading "Boxing mop-up: Pinoy Power 2 featuring world title fights by Nonito Donaire and Bernabe Concepcion"

Photo by Jan Dizon, NCAA.

I did not see this coming at all. Neither did you, and if you say you did, you’re lying.

Continue reading "Ato Agustin, coaching genius.Or: how San Sebastian learned to stop worrying and love the (atom) bomb"

The late, great David Halberstam had an awesome quote from Hall of Fame forward Julius Erving about professionalism: “Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.”

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Jordan knocks Team Pilipinas out in their quarterfinal matchup"

I wasn’t able to tweet during the Team Pilipinas game versus Kuwait or post a quick report on it because I was out late partying with Lady Gaga last night. Just kidding. Anyway, this morning, my friends who went to the show couldn’t get over the size of her penis.

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Team Pilipinas beats Kuwait, gears up for knock-out quarterfinals action"