We join the entire nation in congratulating the Filipino idol, Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, for that lopsided win against Sugar Shane Mosley. That the eight division champ would make mincemeat of Mosley was beyond question.         Instead, how the win will happen was foremost in everybody’s mind. Will it go the distance with Mosley hanging on to dear life like a pulp to the very end? Or, will it be via a knockout - the first time that Mosley will suffer such defeat in his storied carerre?

These and the inevitable question of who will face Pacquaio next were racing through the minds of the live audience and millions of viewers worldwide, especially after the “Pacman” delivered that strike in the third round which shook Mosley and got him to the canvas.

Indeed, Pacquaio’s win was such an inevitability even the betting was so lopsided it seemed nobody was really interested in issuing out a dime on Mosley.         And so we got all kinds of noise and static from the promoters and boxing officials in Las Vegas immediately after the fight, speculating on this or that undertaking, including the so-called Pacquaio-Marquez III come November perhaps to distract attention from the yawns emanating from the MGM-Grand fighting venue.

This is not to suggest that the fight was such a downer it would have been best for the promoters to at least offer free drinks to the customers after it happened. It was not the slugfest everybody wished it to be for sure. But it was entertaining enough to merit a standstill throughout the archipelago while it lasted.

What was delightful, as usual, was how the “Pacman” carried himself before, during, and after the fight. He was the gentleman-boxer everybody wanted to hug. He had poise, he had courage and, of course, the conviction of somebody raring to do something more than pummeling an opponent inside the ring.

He was gracious letting his gloves kiss Mosley’s after every round until he turned pugnacious, especially after that push in the 10th round which caused his slip that the referee called a knockdown.

All in all the fight was as entertaining a show as the best Las Vegas promoter could muster. But it was, nonetheless, not the best that the crowd had expected.

In fact, even the “Pacman” himself said he was quite disappointed with his own showing, letting his coach, Freddie Roach, inject the point that he had already developed cramps from the fourth round.

“We have had problems with his cramps even during training,” Roach was overheard as having said after the fight.         Still, yawn and all, our very own “Pacman” Pacquiao held the world in awe for 12 rounds plus, and we are definitely very proud of him. He is definitely on top of the world. May he continue to stay healthy and sound as he essays lessons in the old- time values of hard work, patience, determination, pride in one’s roots, and an abiding faith in the Almighty. MABUHAY!!!

GAB’S MINDLESSNESS

The “Pacman”s’ patriotic and sensible actions contrasts with the mindlessness we are witnessing with some government officials manning frontline offices. A case in point is Games and Amusements Board  Commissioner and OIC Matthew Gaston. The guy issued a letter last May 4 demanding that the organizers of the World Ten Ball Championship get a GAB permit for the event and, worse, that the players, local and foreign, as well as the referees and ball setters, among others, get licenses as well. Mindlessly citing a provision in Presidential Decree 871 issued in 1976 yet on the “conduct of professional basketball and other professional games,” Gaston insists that the billiards tournament falls under this category.         Since when did pool and billiards qualify as “professional games”? The last I heard, these are sports of choice like golf, marathon, and practical shooting, to name just three of the more prominent ones which have been attracting thousands of participants lately.

Yet Gaston and his colleagues, a certain Guanzon, who is supposed to be the GAB chair, and a certain Tamano, the other commissioner, insist otherwise.

Well, they better read up and shape up. Because if they as much as do something to derail the tournament which, by the way, is sanctioned by the World Pool and Billiards Association under Olympic guidelines and, better still, has been staged in Manila over the past three years, to the delight of the five million-or-so local billiard players and afficionados worldwide.         If these guys are not yet aware, billiards is one of the few sports which have gotten us on the world map for years. In fact, Manila is known as the “Mecca of Billiards,” an affiliation which Filipinos have carried with pride for as long as we can remember. And now, by this mindless GAB intervention, we stand not olnly to lose the distinction but actually become the laughingstock of the sports world.

Gaston and company should take pause and heed the advice of the WPBA, to wit: “...The WPBA and its member-federations organize scores of tournaments around the world every year. And we know of no other country that requires players, especially foreign players, to secure a local license to play pool. Under the Olympic charter, to which the WPBA subscribes, government interference in sports is not acceptable. The accepted principle is to encourage players to freely travel to tournaments and compete freely with one another..”

The WPBA advisory was punctuated with a strongly worded manifesto signed by the 200-or-so players now in Manila, including world champions Antonio Lining, Jeff Corteza, Thorston Hoffman, Mika Immonem, Rolf Soquet, and a host of other world-renowned players from the UK, Germany, Asean, Middle East, China, and Taiwan, among others. Instead of mindlessly injecting itself in the tournament just days before its opening, the GAB should just fade away and join the nation in praying that one of our own wins this year’s championship. That is the best they can do for now.