Fair Play: Dela Hoya finally beats Manny
I SURE missed a lot of things the past few days.
Manny Pacquiao’s knocking out dandruff, Maria Sharapova got knocked out, Marvin Sonsona’s the new champ, some dude kissed Rafael Nadal, the NBA legends are in town and old guy Oscar dela Hoya beats Manny Shaquiao.
I was out of commission for close to two weeks since I was busy inspecting two local hospitals.
At Hospital No. 1, while I was checking the staff’s reaction time regarding hazardous smoke (Did you know that if you smoke in a hospital room CR, a resident, three students and one nurse will visit you in the next 15 minutes to tell you not to?), Marvelous Marvin Sonsona was busy prepping for the biggest fight—and biggest win—of his career, against Puerto Rican Jose Lopez in Mexico.
By the time I was done with my visit, Marvelous Marvin got his final date with destiny, and like Pacquiao, became a world champion at 19.
What makes his feat more amazing is that the fight against Lopez was only Sonsona’s 14th and first outside the Philippines. At 19, he also did what AJ Banal couldn’t do, win a world title.
As my friend Caroline Albarando would say, “What is it with Gen. San that makes champion boxers?”
I guess having Manny Pacquiao—him with the dandruff-free hair—as a kababayan is a huge plus.
Though he is from Gen. Santos, Sonsona had his last seven fights in Cebu. One curious thing—he had his debut against Richard Donaire, the nephew of his new trainer Nonito Donaire Sr.
And while ML Jr., the newly-appointed vice-president of the Maria Sharapova fans club, was busy finding his way into this world, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin found hers into big-time tennis.
The No. 70 player in the world racked up a string of upsets—including against My Maria—before running short against another teen, Caroline Wozniacki.
In a world full of screaming “ovas,” Oudin will be a much welcome addition.
Wozniacki will face Yanina Wickmayer in the semis, while former world No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams will battle it out in the other semis. Now that should be interesting.
I was also looking forward to news regarding Madison Keys in the US Open.
Who is she? She’s a 14-year-old American who beat Serena in a World Team Tennis event a couple of months ago. It’s not the majors, but a victory against Serena is something Dinara Safina hasn’t achieved.
It’s just too bad I wasn’t able to catch whether Keys played in the US Open.
As to the men’s side in the US Open, there are no surprises.
No. 4 Novak Djokovic beat Fernando Verdasco in four sets; No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro beat Marin Cilic in three and No. 1 Roger Federer won for the 12th straight time against Robin Soderling in four sets, winning the opener, 6-0.
Rafael Nadal, bum knee and all, was leading Fernando Gonzales while I was writing this.
Next up for Federer is Djokovic the Joker, the guy he beat for title No. 4 in the 2007 US Open.
The biggest “news” in boxing the past few days wasn’t Sonsona, but dela Hoya’s victory against Shaquille “Manny Shaquiao” O’Neal.
It was part of O’Neal’s “Shaq Vs.” TV show and his moniker shows the increasing popularity of Pacquiao, who is currently avoiding the US taxman by training in the
Philippines.
Shaq had Freddie Roach as his trainer and this time, Golden Boy did a Pacman, he beat an older, bigger, taller guy, though not by knockout.
I just wonder, though, if that victory won’t prod the Golden Boy to arrange another circus/fight with Nikolay Valuev.
Manny Pacquiao’s knocking out dandruff, Maria Sharapova got knocked out, Marvin Sonsona’s the new champ, some dude kissed Rafael Nadal, the NBA legends are in town and old guy Oscar dela Hoya beats Manny Shaquiao.
I was out of commission for close to two weeks since I was busy inspecting two local hospitals.
At Hospital No. 1, while I was checking the staff’s reaction time regarding hazardous smoke (Did you know that if you smoke in a hospital room CR, a resident, three students and one nurse will visit you in the next 15 minutes to tell you not to?), Marvelous Marvin Sonsona was busy prepping for the biggest fight—and biggest win—of his career, against Puerto Rican Jose Lopez in Mexico.
By the time I was done with my visit, Marvelous Marvin got his final date with destiny, and like Pacquiao, became a world champion at 19.
What makes his feat more amazing is that the fight against Lopez was only Sonsona’s 14th and first outside the Philippines. At 19, he also did what AJ Banal couldn’t do, win a world title.
As my friend Caroline Albarando would say, “What is it with Gen. San that makes champion boxers?”
I guess having Manny Pacquiao—him with the dandruff-free hair—as a kababayan is a huge plus.
Though he is from Gen. Santos, Sonsona had his last seven fights in Cebu. One curious thing—he had his debut against Richard Donaire, the nephew of his new trainer Nonito Donaire Sr.
And while ML Jr., the newly-appointed vice-president of the Maria Sharapova fans club, was busy finding his way into this world, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin found hers into big-time tennis.
The No. 70 player in the world racked up a string of upsets—including against My Maria—before running short against another teen, Caroline Wozniacki.
In a world full of screaming “ovas,” Oudin will be a much welcome addition.
Wozniacki will face Yanina Wickmayer in the semis, while former world No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams will battle it out in the other semis. Now that should be interesting.
I was also looking forward to news regarding Madison Keys in the US Open.
Who is she? She’s a 14-year-old American who beat Serena in a World Team Tennis event a couple of months ago. It’s not the majors, but a victory against Serena is something Dinara Safina hasn’t achieved.
It’s just too bad I wasn’t able to catch whether Keys played in the US Open.
As to the men’s side in the US Open, there are no surprises.
No. 4 Novak Djokovic beat Fernando Verdasco in four sets; No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro beat Marin Cilic in three and No. 1 Roger Federer won for the 12th straight time against Robin Soderling in four sets, winning the opener, 6-0.
Rafael Nadal, bum knee and all, was leading Fernando Gonzales while I was writing this.
Next up for Federer is Djokovic the Joker, the guy he beat for title No. 4 in the 2007 US Open.
The biggest “news” in boxing the past few days wasn’t Sonsona, but dela Hoya’s victory against Shaquille “Manny Shaquiao” O’Neal.
It was part of O’Neal’s “Shaq Vs.” TV show and his moniker shows the increasing popularity of Pacquiao, who is currently avoiding the US taxman by training in the
Philippines.
Shaq had Freddie Roach as his trainer and this time, Golden Boy did a Pacman, he beat an older, bigger, taller guy, though not by knockout.
I just wonder, though, if that victory won’t prod the Golden Boy to arrange another circus/fight with Nikolay Valuev.
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