Fair Play: Banal vs. Concepcion 2 and Federer's vengeance

HOURS after AJ Banal won his comeback fight at the Cebu Coliseum, I browsed Mannypacquiao.ph and was jolted by an ad for a fight, “Banal na Paghihiganti” and saw the familiar face of Rafael Concepcion, the Cebuano’s conqueror in Laban na Banal.


I was shocked. I thought Banal’s handlers has already told us the biggest news regarding the young boxer—his next fight in Las Vegas—so why did they keep this rematch with Concepcion a secret?

However, when I noticed "Banal’s" face looked funny in the ad, I realized I’ve been had. Banal isn’t fighting Concepcion, some dude named Drian Francisco is.

But why call the card “Banal na Paghihiganti?” and use really small fonts for the boxers’ names and the biggest on the word “Banal?” And why release the ad on the day of the Banal fight?

Hmmm, something stinks.

I checked boxrec.com to see if there really is a fight involving Concepcion and Francisco and indeed there is. So this isn’t some belated April Fools’ joke.

Oh well, I hope Banal’s, I mean Francisco’s skills belie his record. He may be undefeated, but based on boxrec.com, his last seven wins were against boxers with win-loss-draw records of 2-1-1, 9-13-3, 0-0-0, 10-12-1, 16-5-0, 0-5-0 and 2-4-0.

I just hope, if Francisco loses, no promoter will put up a fight involving Concepcion and another Pinoy and call it, “Banal na Finale!”

RACIST FAN. Another thing that stinks was that racist fan last Saturday.

Last March, not a few Cebuanos howled in protest and called a Hong Kong columnist racist for calling the Philippines a nation of servants.

Last Saturday, not a few boxing fans had a good laugh as a fan hurled racist insults against an African fighter.

“Basta Negro baho!” the fan hollered when Czar Amonsot fought Morris Chule of Kenya.

At first, nobody could pinpoint who was shouting that. But after a few more racist chants, we spotted the guy.

And like a coward that he was, he was covering his mouth while he was shouting.

Still, when everybody was looking at him, the bastard actually smirked and shouted again, “Basta Negro baho!

I guess it was fortunate for the guy that Chule couldn’t understand him. If he did, he’d probably rearrange that guy’s face.

That fan probably thought he was being cute or funny but racist chants have no place in sports, or anywhere else for that matter. Jeering a foe is normal. Using racist insults isn’t.

FEDERER’S VENGEANCE. I’m sorry, I just have to gloat. A day before Roger Federer faced Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Open, I said the Swiss will whip Nadal.

And he did.

It wasn’t a prediction based on analysis. It was just a hunch. Nadal’s been winning a lot, even beating Federer in his de facto home court, the Rod Laver Arena, to stop the Swiss from tying Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams and I knew the Law of Average was bound to catch up with him.

So what better way to even things out a bit than to beat Nadal, in Spain, and prevent him from becoming the first player to win three clay court Masters Series titles in a year?

I knew Roger could do it. I know he can do it again in the French Open. This time, it’s not just a hunch.

Federer is the only guy in the top 10 who has beaten Nadal on clay, and he did it in two finals. Also, between the French Open semifinals in 2005 and the French Open finals in 2006, Federer lost five straight times to Nadal but he won the next two meetings in the 2006 Wimbledon finals and the 2006 Shanghai Masters Cup semis.

Between the 2008 Masters Series and the 2009 Australian Open, Federer lost five straight times to Nadal.

He won the Madrid Open finals this week.

The next tournament is the French Open.

(mikelimpag@gmail.com, football.cebunetwork.com)

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