Naoya Inoue defeats Donaire

All day today, I was finding a way to watch the Donaire - Inoue boxing fight.  It was not streamed for free and no news about the championship fight.  Finally after lunch, 6 hours, more or less, it was available on Youtube, luckily, before it was taken off.

In the first 4 or 5 rounds, it seemed that Donaire was getting the upper hand.  Most of the time, Inoue was backing away from him.  Looked like he can't take the punches from Donaire because he had a cut on his right eye.  Several rounds later, Donaire got Inoue in trouble but failed to finish him off.  Compared to Manny Pacquiao who always takes advantage of that opportunity, Donaire does not have that 'killer instinct'.  He relied on that lucky punch or something else that will make him win.

It was simply a dismal performance for Donaire and a really great show for Naoya Inoue.  He really gained my respect on this fight.

Top 3 Filipino Boxers

Filipino boxers have had a good showing from the year 2000.  No doubt many would pick Manny Pacquiao as number one because of the several weight divisions he is champion.  On a personal choice, I pick Nonito Donaire for the top Filipino boxer followed by Brian Viloria and third, Manny Pacquiao.

Why?  Nonito Donaire has successfully defended his title and very convincingly won over his opponents.  Most, I believe, did not go the distance.  Brian Viloria lost his one or two earlier 2000 fights but did a very convincing comeback defeating almost all, if not all, that were favored against him.  

Manny Pacquiao holds several titles but his recent fights from 2011 to the present were not convincing, even if he won some of them.  The big difference comparing Donaire and Viloria to Pacquiao is, he (Pacquiao) is too "politicized" and "religionized".  Political and religious people were too quick to pounce on Manny Pacquiao for the money he was making, knocking him out of his focus in boxing.

What politics and religion did to Manny Pacquiao is not crab mentality but actual crab actions pulling down Manny from his achievements.  They made him believe that politics and religion did him well in boxing.

Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez IV

The natural body of Pacquiao vs. Marquez' not-normal body

Juan Manuel Marquez might be showing off his muscles.  One thing he does not know is big muscles will drain his energy.  He might be strong enough until the 5th or 6th round but after that he will start losing power.  Another thing, he never fought with those kinds of muscles and does not even know if it will work for him or against him.

Manny Pacquiao still has the same built.  So his energy and power will last until the 12th round.  What we do not know is, if he can take the punches of Marquez in the early rounds.  If Manny is not knocked-out by the 5th round, it will be Marquez who will be knocked-out between the 6th and 8th round.  That is, if he is not knocked-out by Pacquiao in the earlier rounds.

Good examples are the bodies of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard that not too muscular.  Their muscular opponents became punching bags after the first few rounds and many were knocked-out on later rounds. 

Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito

This blog was posted quite later than it should have been.  The reason - Manny Pacquiao training in Baguio City is to master the way of pinik-pikan.  This is the art of what has been termed as "killing-me-softly" for a chicken in preparing the recipe, original and unique only in the Cordilleras.  Maybe the Pacman has slowed down a bit in the same way that Muhammad Ali slowed down while aging.  But in the process of aging, wisdom improves and that is in general for most people.  With this, many tactics and strategies come about that are least expected by opponents or foes.

The preparation of Manny Pacquiao against his opponent Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13, 2010 might not be as intense in his previous trainings.  One real reason is his now being a Congressman representing Sarangani, Mindanao.  In his training in Baguio last 2009, he also did some time off to help victims of  Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng.  Coordinating help and assistance for victims of catastrophes is not an easy task.  His recent camp in Baguio was not really that much in the news because of privacy and security concerns.  Tightened security might have deprived some to actually see and observe his training.

Going back to Manny Pacquiao for his upcoming fight, Margarito will have a problem which part of him to cover.  Standing upright covering his face will be offering the Pacman to practice the art of pinikpikan on his body.  Bending over to protect his abdomen (typo: badomen) will be an opportunity for Manny give killer hooks to side of his head.  This will be the first time the art of pinik-pikan will be used starting with the head.  Pinik-pikan was intentionally not described in full here because some it might find it be too gross and get the attention of the SPCA (lol).  Please note that I am not referring to Margarito as animal.

By the way, some humor was added in this article.  Trying to help Manny Pacquiao on some strategy here, as trainers of Margarito might come across this and be confused.  

Link to Manny Pacquiao Interview at CBS - 60 Minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1kNnCsxRxM