WHILE the presidential election campaign continues to sap our collective energies as a people and be mired in a litany of charges and counter-charges devoid of substantial or solid evidence, we can at least look forward to an event far more ennobling—the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where the Philippines will once again strive to win its first Olympic gold medal, which eluded us in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan and in 1996 in Atlanta in the United States.
In Tokyo, talented Anthony Villanueva ripped through his opponents en route to the finals, where he lost what was considered a questionable if not controversial decision to Russia’s Stanislav Stepashkin.
Anthony, the son of Los Angeles 1932 Olympic bronze medalist Cely Villanueva, who broke down, embraced us and cried in our studios when the inimitable Joe Cantada, who did the radio coverage for dzHP, “The Sound of the City” from ringside, shouted out in his booming voice, “we wuz robbed! We wuz robbed!!”
Thirty-two years later, little light flyweight Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco was only able to salvage a silver medal, losing to Bulgaria’s solidly built Daniel Petrov by a 6-19 score that hardly reflected the closeness of the bout or the courage of the gallant little Filipino. The score was a travesty.
Joe, who was an outstanding collegiate athlete and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division in the national collegiate championships representing San Beda College and covered several professional bouts during his lifetime, which was regrettably cut short at the age of 50, knew the sport perhaps like no other.
Businessman Juan Ibazeta recalled that he went to the collegiate boxing finals and hardly had time to take his seat when Joe, with one thundering right hand, the first punch he threw, knocked his opponent out cold.
The hopes of our nation this time around once again wrests with our boxers, two of whom have so far qualified for Rio 2016 —lightweight Charly Suarez and light flyweight Rogen Ladon.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas is hoping that we will be able to get two more boxers, led by hard-hitting welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial and perhaps Mario Fernandez, as well as female boxer Nesthy Petecio, who was victim of a bum decision when she lost to five-time world champion Mary Kom of India in the recent qualifying tournament in China.
But Petecio hasn’t given up hope and is determined to qualify for the Olympics in the Women’s World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, which opens on May 19.
ABAP has reserved a slot for eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao in the Rio Olympics boxing squad, hoping that AIBA president Dr. Wu ching-kuo will be able to successfully pursue his bid to have the International Olympic Committee approve the plan to have professionals compete in the Rio Olympics.
The AIBA president had earlier met with Manny during a trip to Doha, Qatar and has in fact offered him a wild card entry, where he won’t have to compete in any of the qualifiers but will go straight into the competition in Rio.
Pacquiao has said he wants to represent the country in the Rio Olympics and if allowed to participate is eager to help the Philippines win its first gold medal.
Talking of pro boxing, the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN is on a roll with the fantastic TV ratings for the world title defense of super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, who battered former Hungarian Olympian and world-ranked No. 4 Zsolt Bedak in three rounds, before a wildly cheering throng of 23,000 fans at the Cebu Sports Center.
The fight indeed finished in a flash, with Donaire retaining his title in a short but action-packed battle in which he bloodied and battered Bedak in three rounds, before referee Russell Mora called a halt at 2:44 of the third round.
The 25.4 percent rating in the telecast over the pre-eminent Channel 2 overwhelmed GMA 7’s “I Bilib,” which rated 8.4 percent and Spongebob Square Pants, the movie which turned in a rating of 14.1 percent.
The tremendous crowd and the massive ratings have sparked the interest of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who was represented in Cebu by the extremely likeable executive producer Brad Jacobs, who saw for himself how well the entire event was handled by ALA Promotions and its broadcast partners ABS-CBN.
The tremendously successful event titled “The Time Has Come,” is a prelude to edition No. 36 of the immensely successful “Pinoy Pride” series when the longest-reigning Filipino world champion Donnie Nietes defends his WBO light flyweight crown against former world champion Raul “Rayito” Garcia, the identical twin brother of Raul Garcia Hirales from whom he won the vacant title in Bacolod City before a huge crowd on October 8, 2011. Nietes returns to fight before his hometown fans, who had clamored for a his return since he comes from Murcia, which is on the outskirts of Bacolod.
The exciting fight card will also see the return of world-rated super flyweight, King Arthur Villanueva, who dropped a controversial technical decision to McJoe Arroyo in a clash for the vacant IBF world title in El Paso, Texas, and Milan Melindo, who also dropped a somewhat controversial technical decision in a title fight against Javier Mendoza, against whom Milan is eyeing a rematch.
The unprecedented success of the Donaire-Bedak title fight followed the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Finals, where La Salle bested Ateneo in another classic showdown before some 22,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The public response to sports, which also includes the NBA Playoffs on ABS-CBN Sports and Action and the PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals between the Alaska Aces and Rain Or Shine augurs well for the future and with the upcoming coverage of the Olympic basketball qualifying tournament by the host broadcaster TV 5, millions of Filipinos can look forward to sporting spectacles second to none.