‘BATA’ REYES JOINS PACQUIAO IN WINNING 'DECADE' HONORS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 04 Feb 2010
Efren “Bata” Reyes, known the world over as “The Magician” joined boxing hero and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in winning top honors from the prestigious American media organization members who cover both sports.
Shortly after the respected members of the Boxing Writers Association of America headed by its president Jack Hirsh overwhelmingly voted Pacquiao as the “Fighter of the Decade”, the United States Billiard Media Association or USBMA named Filipino pool legend Reyes as the “Player of the Decade” giving recognition to two of the Philippines sports icons.
The significance of Pacquiao’s twin awards since he also won “Fighter of the Year” honors for the third time in four years is that he won over Floyd Mayweather Jr by a margin that according to Hirsh was more than 2 to 1 in the race for the “Fighter of the Decade.”
Pacquiao's overwhelming victory which even surprised Hirsch effectively silenced a handful of individuals including Mayweather’s father, Floyd Mayweather Sr who had accused Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs. The irony is that Mayweather Sr himself served five years in prison for peddling cocaine.
Just when the pool world was beginning to write-off Reyes as losing his touch and being hampered by arthritis due to his age, the all-time great showed glimpses of his vaunted magical touch to win the Master of the Table top award as well as the 9-Ball title in the Annual Derby City Classic.
He also stunned opponents by teaming up with bosom buddy Francisco “Django” Bustamante to win the World Team Championship for the second time since grabbing the inaugural event in 1996 and then teamed up with Rubilen Amit, the first World Women’s 10-Ball Champion to win the inaugural staging of the World Mixed Doubles Championship.
Reyes, who amassed nearly $1.7 million in prize money was joined by Allison Fisher, who won 27 Women’s Professional Billiard Association Classic Tour titles who was named Women’s “Player of the Decade.”
The extremely popular 55 year old Reyes, a pool sensation when at his best, won more than 20 major men’s professional pool titles during the decade, starting with his $30,000 Camel Pro 8-Ball Championship win in 2000. Of his 22 major victories, the versatile Reyes won four one-pocket crowns, four 8-ball titles and 14 9-ball titles. He also won the Derby City All- Around title three times.
AZ Billiards noted that it was during the short-lived International Pool Tour that Reyes scored his biggest wins. In three multi-million dollar events, Reyes won two titles (2005 IPT King of the Hill and 2006 IPT North American Open) and pocketed $765,000.
AZ Billiards also noted that Fisher, continued her dominance over women’s pool for a second straight decade. After winning 26 Classic Tour titles during the ’90s, the former snooker champion added 27 more from 2000-2010. In addition to her WPBA Classic Tour titles, Fisher, 41, earned the gold medal at the 2009 World Games, was the 2000 BCA U.S. Open 14.1 champion and won the Tournament of Champions five times. She earned $637,000 over the 10-year span.
Additionally, both Reyes and Fisher were elected into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame during the decade, with Reyes being inducted in 2003 and Fisher in 2009.
In Player of the Decade voting, Reyes out-pointed Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet. Fisher was named woman player of the decade on all but two ballots, with Karen Corr and Jasmin Ouschan each receiving one vote.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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