Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

I’m reposting this article I wrote for The Basketball Exchange, about the Dallas Maverick’s current struggles. At the time of writing, the Mavs are in a two-game winning streak, pulling off close wins over the Suns and the Trailblazers. They are now 2-4.

A few days ago, fellow BallEx writer John Dacanay asked the question: What is happening to the Mavericks? I won’t bother with the stats too much, because the reason he posed the question is blatantly obvious: this Maverick team is struggling, opening the season with four straight losses - the worst in franchise history.

This is a team that kept its core after reaching the NBA Finals last year, and they supposedly got deeper. This is a team that has the reigning Coach of the Year in Avery Johnson, the best foreign player (and easily top ten league-wide) in Dirk Nowitzki, and boasts having Jerry Stackhouse as a sixth man. Read the rest of this entry »

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This is part of a series of posts at the Armchair Jock featuring the third match between Manny “The Pacman/The Destroyer” Pacquiao and Erik “El Terrible” Morales, dubbed The Finale. In this post, I’ll be giving a general overview of who the fighters are and what’s happened before.

Sooner rather than later, the excuses will end, when arguably two of the best fighters in the world go head to head in what has been dubbed "The Finale": Pacquiao vs. Morales III, this coming November 18 (November 19 Philippine time). Both fighters have won over the other, and both are just as hungry to prove themselves the better boxer, no caveats, no ifs, no buts. Barring the unfortunate possibility of a draw, this fight, as with the previous two, is bound to be a serious conteder for fight of the year.

Backgrounder

Manny Pacquiao, (42-3-2, 32 KOs), is the WBC’s and the WBO’s No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger for the 130-pound titles and a consensus Top-3 “Pound-for-Pound” fighter. His exploits in the ring have made him a local icon in the Philippines, coming at the expense of some of the greatest boxers of this era: Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. A natural slugger, Pacquiao often uses his superb combination of superior handspeed, durability and power to pummel his opponents to the ground. This has, however, found a foil in the past, most notably with Morales himself, back in thier first fight in March of 2005. Still, he has more than made up for that loss in the past year. Albeit generally unimpressive in his tune-up win over Oscar "Chololo" Larios last July, Pacquiao has shown that his right hand has become almost as potent as his famed left (Manila Ice) as he sent Larios sprawling to the floor a couple of times. More impressive was his win over Morales earlier in the year in their second meeting, and becoming the first to score a knock out over the Mexican pugilist, repeatedly going for the body and wearing down the fierce Mexican. Needless to say, Pacquiao is at the top of his game.

For the rest of this article, head on over to The Armchair Jock.

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Featuring boxing analyst Allan Robles:

Every once in a while the boxing world stops and takes notice of its lower weight divisions. True that’s there’s not much happening in the usual “money” divisions. But I assure you, even if there is an up and coming Lewis Tyson match, the boxing world will still stop and take notice on November 18 - The Grand Finale. Yes, that’s what I’m talking about, it’s the highly anticipated super feather weight bout (can you believe its non title?) , the highly heated and controversial Filipino versus Mexican fight (check out some forums and you’ll know what I’m talking about). The aptly named “Grand Finale” of the trilogy. Ladies and Gentlemen, its the third installment of the Manny “The Pacman” Pacquiao versus Eric “El Terrible” Morales Match.

Read more at the Armchair Jock

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