SPORTS SHORTS 160: CONTROVERSIES SHAKE THE TOP TWO FILIPINO FIGHTERS OF THE WORLD
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 03 Jul 2021
At the US Embassy, during the 245th Anniversary of the Declaration of the US Independence, Senator Manny Pacquiao clarified that he had been "receiving documents and evidence of corruption” in various agencies as quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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President Rodrigo Duterte has been telling his PDP-Laban partymate and ally Senator Pacquiao to work and investigate the alleged corruption. “Go to work. You asked for that, the documents are there, start investigating. Do not go elsewhere. Comply first with your duty as a senator," the President said.
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“They were asking for my help," Pacquiao said and that it would be a good opportunity to work with the President. He said he would submit all the evidences he had to President Duterte.
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When questioned why he aired his concerns in public instead of directly talking to the President, Pacquiao answered, “I think it’s more than six months that I’ve been asking for an appointment or an audience with him, but I did not get the chance. I also understand that maybe he’s too busy,” said the senator.
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Regarding his plans of running for president in 2022, Pacquiao said, “I’m not saying no, but I’m not declaring anything now. I will declare at the right time what position I am running for. For now I want to focus on my upcoming fight.”
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Senator Manny Pacquiao will be a sure winner if he decides to run for reelection in the Upper Chamber. He could even snatch a No. 1 Senate seat. But if he decides to run for President, that's a bigger political fight than the Errol Spence title match ahead.
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Paradigm Sports Management is seeking an injunction to stop his upcoming fight against WBC and IBF welterweight champ Spence. The multi-million dollar lawsuit for alleged breach of contract was filed by Paradigm which was supposedly arranging a Pacquiao match against four-division boxing champion Mikey Garcia.
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The Pacquiao camp declared that they will fight the lawsuit filed against the senator. According to ABS-CBN, Pacquiao's lawyer Dale Kinsella said that the complaint filed by Paradigm Sports "is a frivolous effort to interfere with Manny Pacquiao's upcoming mega fight.
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“Paradigm Sports’ lawsuit against me has no merit. Sadly, this frivolous lawsuit intends to distract my preparations for a historic fight,” Pacquiao said in a statement. “But it does not bother me a bit. My lawyers are on top of this lawsuit and are ready to file counter charges against Paradigm Sports,” he added.
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He sparred for three rounds to get rid of ring rust due to two years of inactivity before he heads for the US on July 3 for more rigid training at the Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles under Freddie Roach.
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Nonito Donaire grappled with the John Riel Casimero team and announced on social media that he’s pulling out of the August 14 WBC and WBO bantamweight unification fight that would have been a historic champion vs. champion in Philippine boxing.
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Donaire declared that he had given Casimero’s camp five days to show documents supporting that he has enlisted in the 24/7 VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) monitoring.
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“We have proof that the opposing side was neither honest nor forthcoming,” Donaire posted on his Twitter. “After we cancelled the fight, then and only then did the paperwork suddenly appear.”
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The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) is an organization that promotes effective anti-doping practices and programs in boxing and mixed martial arts. According to VADA, professional athletes will volunteer to be subject to unannounced testing any time eight weeks before a scheduled fight.
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Similar to the Olympic program, a fighter when he agrees to participate will be required to officially inform VADA of their daily whereabouts, so that they can be tested as stipulated in the program. Athletes will agree that all results are immediately released to the appropriate adjudicating commission governing their upcoming matches.
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Rachel Donaire, wife and manager of the World Boxing Council (WBC) champion, alleged that the team of Casimero tried to delay their boxer's enrollment in the VADA 24/7 testing and didn’t submit the fighter’s papers which compelled Donaire to back out of the championship match.
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Casimero’s misbehavior and his being discourteous to Donaire’s wife, family, and team also contributed to the decision of the world's four-weight division champion to look for other opponent instead of fighting Casimero.
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A possible rematch with WBA and IBF champion Naoya Inoue is in the works. The remake of the 2019 Fight of the Year is a more lucrative match for both champions. Casimero might as well continue his aborted fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux.
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Serbia coach Igor Kokoskov salutes to his Gilas Pilipinas counterpart Tab Baldwin as the Filipinos gave the host team a scare and pushed them to the limit in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade. "I would like to congratulate the Philippine team for playing really good, playing together as a unit," Kokoskov said.
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Serbia pulled away in the final two minutes on the gigantic play of Dallas Mavericks' 7-foot-3 mammoth Boban Marjanovic for the 83-76 win, just a seven-point margin. Serbia, ranked fifth in the world, was heading to an easy win after posting a 16-point lead in the third quarter.
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But Gilas Pilipinas slowly reduced its deficit and even took a 74-73 lead midway in the fourth quarter. NBA center Marjanovic scored 8 points to rally 10-2 for the hard victory.
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With an average age of 22 years old, the all-cadet Gilas' experience are very negligible compared to those of the Serbians, who have an average age of 29 and have six players who are at least 30 years. Cage power Serbia beat the Gilas team of PBA players by 59 points when they collide in the 2019 FIBA World Cup in Foshan, China.
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The following day, an error-marred and burned-out Gilas Pilipinas suffered a 67-94 huge loss to Dominican Republic after they committed a staggering 23 turnovers as the Filipinos failed to clinch the last semifinals berth in Group A in the Olympic qualifiers.
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Still it was a very successful stint for the newbie national team players. The Philippines sees a bright future for our young Gilas cadets to realize the dream of bringing back our Asian basketball supremacy.
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According to NBA History, Paul George has put up 20+ PTS in all 18 games he played in this year's postseason. The only other players in NBA history to score at least 20 in their first 18 games of a single NBA Playoffs are Michael Jordan (1992, 1997, 1998), Kobe Bryant (2008) and Kevin Durant (2012, 2018).
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With Coach of the Year finalist Monty Williams and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul, Devin Booker will be leading the Phoenix Suns as they make their first NBA Finals appearance since 1993. The Suns have never won the NBA Finals, so it would be the franchise's first title if they could win this one.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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