What makes sense to these words is the fact that the fight between the two boxing heroes Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey is really worth the wait. I bet that this showdown would take us to the edge of our seats. For the first time, I’ll be watching it at the Gaisano Grand Citimall (formerly JS Gaisano) in Ilustre St., Davao City. I’ll be with my buddy Jeff, his fiancée Doodles, and Jeff’s brother Jay.

Now as the clock ticks near midnight, I am about to take that ‘sleep’ away.

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Mixed Martial Artist Brandon Vera is set to face Jon ‘Bones’ Jones on March 21 in Broomfield, Colorado.The Filipino-American who is sporting a 11-4 win-loss card labeled his counterpart as ‘dangerous’. Vera is confident  though in this much anticipated fight.

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Australia’s basketball may not be as big as in the United States or in the Philippines. Cricket, Rugby, Australian Football, Horse racing  are far more popular in terms of crowd attendance. However, there’s one thing that caught the attention of coach Rajko Toroman in the Aussies – zone defense.

I remember back in 2004 Athens Olympics, Australia played against the United States in the preliminaries.  The Americans had a hard time breaking the zone of the Aussies. Though the former won in that game, it was a close match that pushed the Americans to the brink. Note that Team USA was made up of NBA stars including Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. The Americans ended up third in that tournament though.

The Australia trip of the Gilas is the second of the series of international exposures as a run up to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China beginning November 12. Scheduled to follow this tour is a series of exhibition games in Serbia, United States and possibly against the Canadian national team in April.

It has been three weeks already since one of my best friends Meiko Honda (a.k.a. Meiko Bistula) passed away. He died last February 18 after spending 4 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of San Pedro Hospital in Davao City due to a vehicular accident. Until now, I could hardly believe that he is gone. The last time we hanged out together was back in December 2008 at the Matina Town Square. Meiko was a great friend. We had been together in class from our kindergarten days until high school. I have a lot of fond memories with him. He was a cheerful person, loved rock music and a sports aficionado as well.

Like me, Meiko was a basketball fanatic and a boxing enthusiast. I remember he would update me on the games of the NBA Finals back in 2006 as I could not watch it live. He had to leave his household chores just to keep me abreast with the championship series. Besides, he used to tell me stories about Manny Pacquiao which I could not find on the web or in the papers. In one way or another, he had greatly influenced my interest in sports. And perhaps even this site.

It’s just so sad that that day came. It was February 18 when he passed away.

Thank you Meik for all the good times and bad. Thank you for the memories. As they say, ‘Whoever touches our lives leaves heartprints of love, friendship and joy. ‘ Thank you bai for a beautiful heartprint.

It’s just three days away from a national holiday here in the Philippines as once again, boxing icon Manny Pacquiao takes on Joshua Clottey of Ghana on Saturday (Sunday PHI time). In the last three fights of Manny, I watched all of these in Gaisano Mall Cinema along J.P. Laurel Ave. here in Davao City. And early this week, I was thinking of trying it somewhere else for a change. But, just as I was about to decide, I saw an ad in Gaisano Grand Citimall in Ilustre St. (Formerly JS Gaisano Ilustre) that they are showing it live on their cinema. All you have to do is buy any combination of Head and Shoulders products and for every P150 of purchase, you have one ticket. Great deal, right? So, I didn’t  think twice anymore and grab a couple of tickets right away. The other one was supposedly intended for my big bro but he told me he could not go with me. And so is my father. Thus, I got an extra one here.

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Smart Gilas Team manager Frankie Lim has dismissed speculations that that team is looking to revamp its coaching staff. Lim added that coach Rajko Toroman is contented with the performance of the assistant coaches. Allan Gregorio, Jude Roque and Djalma Arnedo are the assistant coaches of the Smart Gilas.

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Nonito Donaire , Jr. has set to fight again on May 8 against unnamed opponent. He is looking at least three names for that date including Jorge Arce and Vic Darchinyan at 115 lbs., and Fernando Montiel at 118 lbs. Donaire added that he can even go up as much as 122 lbs. later this year and wants to face highly regarded Mexican Israel Vazquez.

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Third baseman Kim Dong-joo of the Doosan Bears remains to be the highest paid player for the second straight year in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBL). Kim who earns 700 million won this season leads the cast of 109 others who will receive at least 100 million won this 2010 season. Closely following him as the highest paid are Son Min-han of the Lotte Giants and Park Jin-man of the Samsung Lions who take home at least 600 million won each.

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Koo Dae-sung of the Hanwa Eagles has rejoined his team in practice while recovering injury in his left knee. His injury has caused him to just 38 appearances in the 2008 season. The 40-year old journeyman who has played in Japan’s NPB and United States’ MLB vows to help his team improve from last season’s disappointing campaign.

PBA Commissioner Sonny Barrios has announced the stiff penalty imposed on Talk N’ Text ballclub for walking out in Game 4 of their quarterfinal series against Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings. Accordingly, Talk N’Text was fined a total of P1 Million for their walk out in the first quarter of the game. PLDT Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan for his part said that he had no regrets for their protest because he believed it was a right decision under those kinds of circumstances.

Veteran Gerry Peñalosa faces Eric Morel of Puerto Rico this Saturday February 13 in the undercard of the Pinoy Power 3 in Las Vegas. Now 37 years old and entering the 21^st year of his pro career, Peñalosa is going for the interim title of the WBO bantam weight. Peñalosa joins 4 other Filipinos in this card to be headlined by 115-division champ Nonito Donaire, Jr.

Well, for some reasons, the winners Pacquiao and Mayweather did not come to terms for their much anticipated showdown. Who’s to blame? I don’t know. Just blame it on the rain.

Now, Manny is locked to face Joshua Clottey on March 13 while ‘lil’ Floyd will face Shane Mosley by May 1. I hope we’ll see to end going back to final four after May 1.

Photo Courtesy: DraftExpress.com

I admit that I didn’t care much about how Jeremy Lin has been buzzing the United States college hoops. It was not until I went through the forums and I found out that this young fellow of Taiwanese descent deserves all the accolades he enjoys. This kid can play real basketball.

Surfing through ESPN’s website for college basketball, I’m really impressed to find out Jeremy’s impact on his team Harvard Crimson. In fact, he leads the team in scoring this season with 17.3 per game. What makes him extra special is the fact that he has descent numbers in almost all categories. Last season, he was cited by basketball purists for being the only player in the NCAA Division I to rank Top Ten in his conference in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and 3-point percentage. Whew! That’s more than just amazing considering he is only 6-foot-3. Words from scouts all over North America come out that Lin is a ‘shoo-in’ for the NBA. If that makes sense, he follows the footsteps taken by Ed Smith in 1953. Smith was the last NBA player to come out from Harvard. Besides, Lin will join elite Chinese players who have played in the NBA like Wang Zhizhi, Mengke Bater, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue and the first one to come from the province of Taiwan.

Born on August 23, 1988 to Taiwanese immigrants in California, Jeremy has been the pillar of Harvard University basketball squad.