Manny & Money: Geoff's Gaffes

The current brouhaha on the Olympic Style Drug Testing proposed by the camp of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on Manny Pacquiao to which the Filipino and current P4P King refused to heed has elicited a lot of controversies that were further fanned by partisan as well as ignorant boxing writers on the subject.

At first, I chose to keep quiet on the matter since I still believed that the megafight between Money and Manny will push through despite all the reports of disagreement and bad press from both sides.

But sometimes I come across articles written by people who simply have no business writing such stuff that merit some retorts lest they continue with their myopic points of view and self- proclaimed knowledge on the subject when in reality they don’t have an iota of expertise on what they are talking about.

We could easily classify them into three classes- simply biased, paid hacks, dumb & dumber.

I will not speculate in what category Geoff Poundes (RingsideReport.com) belongs to, but instead I will leave it up to the readers to put him in his proper place. I read his article the other day entitled “Did Roid Rage Ruin the Manny Pacquiao- Floyd Mayweather Super Fight?”



When reading the said article of this self- proclaimed “Professor,“ I noticed there was nothing of note in it except already known facts and baseless contentions with some “new” malicious lines attributed to a so-called unnamed “Philippine” source.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

“ I was apporached recently by a contributor who laid out for me several reasons why he was convinced that Pacquiao was on steroids. His reasons mostly centers around the Pacman’s physique – the argument being that Pacquiao’s muscularity was impossible in the time span and in light of the level of weight gain – and a view of the Philippines and that country’s attitude to competition and fair play. He was a Philippine himself, so I can repeat his assertion that cheating and corruption are endemic in the Philippines in most areas of life (a cursory examination of the political history of Pacquiao’s homeland pretty much tells its own story). “


The Professor’s time in the ring as a referee might have warped his sense of reality and judgment although not a single punch has landed on his head during his long career to even suggest that he is already punched drunk. Maybe it is just endemic that he lacks the requisite grey matter to fully grasp and comprehend the enormity of his theories and beliefs.

Let me just pound on Mr. Poundes’s assertions and assumptions. As if appointing clowns like Paulie Malignaggi and Kermit Cintron as boxing dignitaries was not laughable enough, he compounded his ignorance by referring to his source as well as to Manny Pacquiao as a “Philippine.” For the record, it is a known fact that no such term exists except maybe in the minds of ignorant and uneducated people that proliferate the boxing world. The correct term is FILIPINO.

Once again, he showed his ignorance and lack of knowledge when he asserted that cheating and corruption are endemic in the Philippines. As if the Philippines has a monopoly of those things. I will not go into some historical details about how the British Empire acquired most of its wealth through conquest and plunder, but let me just state the fact that while the Philippines might be a known place for acquiring cheap drugs like methamphetamines and marijuana as well as being the transit point for cocaine and heroin from the Golden Triangle en route to the West, there is no evidence to support that the Filipinos are capable of manufacturing performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), more so of doing systematic sports doping.

It is a fact that Manny Pacquiao has never failed any drug tests administered on him by any sports bodies at any point of his career. It is also of record that NO FILIPINO ATHLETE HAS TESTED POSITIVE OF USING PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS in any sporting event that the country has participated in, which cannot be said of their MORE ILLUSTRIOUS AND HONEST BRITISH COUNTERPARTS like Dwain Chambers, Greg Rusedski, Gary Cadogan, Perriss Wilkins, Doug Walker and LINFORD CHRISTIE (who won gold in the Olympics, World, Commonwealth and European Championships).

I wonder where Professor Geoffs got his education for there is nothing professorial in the way he writes his opus. It is full of gaffes and lacking in substance. In fact, it is a shame that despite being British, he simply doesn’t have the chops nor the flair of the traditional and contemporary English writers like Conan Doyle et al in his veins. It is really very elementary but the sun has long set on the British Empire and its people.

The Queen is Back!

2008 World Champion Mao Asada was triumphant in her return to ice competition as she won her 4th consecutive Japan Figure Skating Championship in Osaka to book a berth in the coming Vancouver Olympics in February 2010.

Asada who was in danger of missing the Olympics because of poor performances in the Grand Prix competitions that she was in earlier in the season opened her program with her patented triple axel and committed no major mistakes and was solid the rest of the way in the Free Skate to finish with a personal best of 204.62 points.

Her gold medal winning performance served notice that she is back in the thick of things and is determined to give her Korean archrival Kim Yu-Na a run for her money in Vancouver.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. @ Joe Buck Live

In This Corner: Barry Gusi decisions Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao’s luck has finally come to an end and his amazing winning streak is over.



After scintillating victories against bigger opponents in Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao now suffered his first loss since a close decision to Mexican legend Erik Morales in 2005 and his worst since little- known compatriot Rustico Torrecampo’s wicked left hook knocked him out earlier in his career.

The decisive punch was delivered by the blabbering and fuming Ambassador Barry Gusi who proclaimed the one- sided fight over with less than two minutes left due to a technicality in his speech at the Meralco Theater during the awarding ceremonies of this year’s Gusi Peace Prize.



Barry Gusi whose ambassador title was bestowed by the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Pacific Islands and the reigning, undisputed chairman of the Peace Prize named after his family wherein he claimed it to be as Asia's equivalent of the very prestigious Nobel Peace Prize declared his fight with boxing’s reigning P4P king as a no- contest in his speech in front of this year’s multi-national awardees many of whom flew into the country at their own expense for the grandiose ceremony.

Gusi was so angered by Pacquiao’s no- show in the awarding ceremony and utter show of disrespect to him even though the boxer sent his Canadian lawyer Michael Koncz to be his representative but the ambassador refused to hand the award to him and reiterated his position that the Filipino boxing icon will no longer be honored by his foundation for the rest of his life.


“They assured me several times that they would attend but they did not show up. No showing up, no award. No respect , no award. No award for the rest of his life because he did not respect the people of the country and the people of the world.”

Such fighting and ironic words coming from a man who name and distribute a Peace award named after his family, if you ask me.

My curiosity was obviously piqued when I read in the papers that a certain Ambassador Gusi was fuming over Manny Pacquiao’s deliberate snub of the affair that I instantly put my fingers to good use and use the power of the internet to find out about the man.

I run into some old articles about him and the Gusi Peace Prize that gave me nothing but just general views. Even the official website’s entries were vague and lacking in details. Heck, it seems that his people even forgot to put him and his works in Wikipedia’s database. Thus being said, I say not really impressive for a man and an award- giving body of this magnitude.

The credentials of this self- proclaimed ‘Internationalist’ are also quite suspect as well as the obscure manner of which he acquired his title as ambassador - at- large of those small groups of islands in the Pacific whose so- called leaders are notorious of giving the said title at the drop of a hat.

But I was impressed with the names of the past and present recipients of the said award that could even compete with the older and well- known Ramon Magsaysay Award. The Filipino past and present recipients alone make a veritable list of the Philippines’ Who’s Who.

Unfortunately at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for these so- called ‘Peace Laureates’ because in my mind they were just taken for a ride by this eccentric man.

Yes, we cannot deny the fact that they excelled in their respective fields but they were also gullible enough to accept this so- called award that claims to be Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel from this man without even checking his background because they succumbed to that feeling inherent in every one of us which is the need and hunger for recognition.

Although Barry Gusi does not have the credentials nor the pedigree to hand out such awards more so the authority to rank it in the same level as the Nobel Peace Prize but who can blame him when it is obviously an act of self- promotion and a private endeavor for an award that many people bought without question that includes the Office of the Philippine President.

And I salute him for having the audacity, courage and fortitude in putting up this kind of endeavor for not too many people can do this kind of things. Iba talaga ang Pinoy!

But when I found the video below while trolling YouTube the other day, I am now more convinced that Pacquiao’s recent one- sided loss against Barry Gusi should be recorded with an asterisk.

Now you wonder who the real loser and who has the last laugh in this case.

Pacquiao- Mayweather in May 2010 a done deal?

Is ABS- CBN out to destroy Manny Pacquiao?

Instead of focusing on the latest accomplishment by the Filipino phenomenon against Miguel Cotto to become as the only man to be crowned champion in seven weight divisions which is no small feat by boxing standards, the alleged Manny Pacquiao- Krista Ranillo affair dominated the said station’s programming right after the historic feat.

ABS- CBN did not even give Pacquiao enough time to savor his victory before unleashing their own version of bad left hooks and wicked uppercuts on the Pambansang Kamao that brought him on the defensive and reeling from the controversy. The station also shook the family’s foundation in the process.

Even though some of their screaming headlines were eventually proven wrong like for example in the video below wherein ABS- CBN reported that Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee took separate flights from the United States back to the Philippines which by now we all know what really happened and by all accounts the truth on the matter.



Still, ABS- CBN chose to ignore the said fact and continued to peddle more malicious articles and innuendos in their website. Worse, the station that prided itself as being a Kapamilya is actually the one who is trying to destroy Manny Pacquiao’s family by their wanton abuse of press freedom.

Even though some of the reports turned out to be false, it did not even bother to issue an apology to the People’s Champion whose family was greatly affected by the said intrigues and allegations that the station had thrown his way. To me, this smacks of irresponsible journalism.

Here are some of the photos that can be found on the ABS- CBN website-









If one will only examine the said photos, it is as clear as day that although the said woman really has quite a resemblance to Ms. Ranillo at first glance, upon closer examination, we can see and deduce that the said woman is far from the real Krista Ranillo.

I will not be surprised if it turns out that it was PGMA’s Presidential Deputy Spokesperson Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo who was in the series of photos above and not Krista Ranillo. Ha-ha-ha.




Anyway, Even if the Manny- Krista affair is true, I still believe that their personal lives are not our business even if some of us will raise the issue that Manny Pacquiao is a public figure and thus, fair game.

I also believe that the said issue should be resolved privately by the parties concerned and away from the prying eyes of the media. Also, let us give the parties involved the necessary space to think things over so as to come up with the necessary answers to our queries.

For its part ABS CBN and the media (rather than further inflaming the subject with gossips and unverifiable ‘facts’) should instead focus more on the positive aspects of Manny Pacquiao’s accomplishments and their significance to us as a nation and as a people.

NASCAR: 4 for #48!

Jimmie Johnson clinched the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship at NASCAR's season finale in runaway fashion as he finished 5th at Homestead- Miami Speedway to become only the fourth man to win more than 3 series championships behind legends Richard Petty (7) and Dale Earnhardt (7) as well as teammate Jeff Gordon (4).

Superman Jimmie's 4th consecutive championships since 2006 put him on the record books as the only NASCAR driver to accomplish the feat.

And when he was asked about his accomplishment, the normally reserved Johnson blurted out-

“The cool thing is, we’re not done yet.”


Well said, Indeed.