Donaire vs Arce

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Ring is set for another battle of Filipino and Mexican boxers as Nonito “The Flash” Donaire defends his World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight title and the WBC diamond belt to Jorge “Travieso” Arce on December 15, 2012 at the Toyota Center, the Home of the Houston Rockets , in Houston, Texas.

Donaire (29), a 4-division world champion with a record of 30-1, 19 by KOs, is one of the busiest boxer as this fight will be his fourth this year and winning all of his previous 3 fights. Meanwhile, the challenger, Arce (32) is a veteran fighter with 61-6-2, 46 by KOs.

At weigh-in, Donaire weighed 121 ½ pounds while Arce hit the limit of 122 pounds. At a press conference, both fighters extended their respect for each other and promised a great fight as both of them trained well in their respective camps.

Many boxing fans dubbed the Donaire – Arce fight as another battle and rivalry of Filipino and Mexican boxers as the Pacquaio – Marquez 4 was still fresh from their minds where Filipino champion Manny Pacquaio was knocked out in the 6^th rounds by his fierce rival Juan Manuel Marquez. In one of the interviews with Donaire, he mentioned that he is not fighting for revenge on the loss of Pacquaio. Revenge will cloud his focus on the fight. He will be on the ring to defend his title and pour his attention in his strategies and deliver a good fight.

The fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, starting at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT(December 16, 11:30 AM, Philippine Time). The telecast will also include the exclusive replay of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4, the fourth chapter of their epic rivalry and a favorite to win Fight of the Year. 

Packing Calories

With Christmas just around the corner, people are now planning for their Christmas party and Noche Buena. We usually prepare for a sumptuous dinner to be shared with the family at exactly 12 midnight or after the midnight mass. It is in these times that we always neglect our diet and gobble foods high in cholesterol, salt and sugar. It is during this holiday season that we let our bodies pack some more fats and add more weight.

But before picking up our spoon and fork and drool on those crispy lechon (roasted pig), succulent ham, soft and flavorful humba (braised pork belly), hot and oily bulalo (beef marrow stew),  creamy mango float and other noche buena regulars, let us be aware that:

1.   Every bit of those food that you put in your mouth will be absorbed by your body and every gram of it has its equivalent (1 gram of fat = 9 calories; 1 gram of protein = 4 calories; 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories; 1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories).

2.   On a daily 2,000-calorie balanced diet, you need to consume 50 g of protein, 300 g of carbohydrates, 65 g of fat (20 g of saturated fat, 300 mg of cholesterol) and 25 g of fiber.

3.   Therefore, eating a plate full of slices of lechon and ham, humba, pasta, desserts in one meal can be packed with fattening calories, harmful cholesterol, and deadly salt and sugars.

To give you an idea what I am talking about, here is an example of a typical Christmas or Noche Buena plate with computed calorie and cholesterol count.

1.    1 – serving Rice (1 cup) = 242 cal; 0 mg cholesterol

2.    2 – serving Lechon (200 g) = 484 cal; 190 mg cholesterol

3.    1 – serving Smoked Ham (100 g) = 122 cal; 22 mg cholesterol

4.    ½ – serving Humba (50 g) = 86 cal; 14 mg cholesterol

5.    ½ - serving Chopsuey (1/2 cup) = 50 cal; 0 cholesterol

6.    1 – slice Mango Float = 280 cal; 12 mg cholesterol

7.    1 – bottle Beer (330 mL) = 139 cal; 0 cholesterol

To sum up, you had 1,043 calories and 238 mg cholesterol in one EXTRA midnight meal! This is half of your daily calorie requirements and 80% of your cholesterol intake. No wonder it is in this holiday season that a lot of people gained weight and got heart problems.

With the extra calories you had, you need 2 hours of high impact aerobics or 2 hours of non-stop jogging or 5 hours of walking to burn out the excess calories.

It is important that we should watch out our food intake by choosing the right food and eating in moderation those that are high in fat and cholesterol and be prepared to go to the gym to sweat out and burn out those calories.

The shocking loss of PACMAN

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez  rivalry ended with a big bang. With Pacquaio falling flatly on the canvass in the final seconds of the 6^th round, Filipinos were shocked to see that their boxing hero succumbed to the right hook of Marquez. The hysteria of Jinky Pacquiao at the ringside as her husband planked for a few seconds added more drama to the action-packed fight.

We somehow anticipated that not all the time our hero will win his fights, but should not end this way! This horrible loss will taint Pacquiao’s great record as an 8-division world champion. It only showed that heydays had an end and not all endings are pleasant.

Looking at the fight, both fighters showed their greatest performance ever in their respective careers. Rounds 1 and 2 exchanges were equal as they tried to measure one’s strength and tactics. When Pacquiao was downed in the third round, he obviously got more aggressive that he had also floored Marquez in the fifth round and battered Marquez that his face was badly swollen with blood dripping to the canvass. In the middle of the sixth round, Pacquiao was clearly on the advantage and even pushed to finish it but the right hook of Marquez stunned him as he fell to the canvass face first and never recovered.

Many observations and blaming had come out after the fight. Many said that Pacquiao’s conversion in his religion contributed to his loss. In all of his previous fights, his rosary was always visible and he only took it off just before the bell rings at the fight. His being a politician was also blamed as it misplaced his attention and focus on his boxing career. Others said he did not train well  because he had other commitments to attend to.

Dwelling to those tirades is an insult to Marquez capability as a fighter, boxing tactician and counter-puncher. Marquez is not a lowly boxer that defeated our champion. Remember, he is also a world champion that was beaten and won by a hair by Pacquiao in judge’s decision. Marquez had also trained hard for this fight and this win is his redemption.

As I see it, both fighters were great, prepared to fight and determined to win and it was just a matter of who will hit the devastating blow first. And this time, it was Juan Manuel Marquez  who  got the right side of the coin and the nod from Lady Luck.

Watch Paquiao vs Marquez here!

This is it! How will this end?

We Watched the Pacquiao vs Marquez Fight for the fourth time!

Pacquiao got knocked out in the 6th rounds.

We enjoyed it. I hope this will be Manny's last fight. Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez showed to the world that he is WBO greatest fighter of the decade!

How will this end?

December 8, 2012, PH time - The rivalry between two best pound-for-pound boxers in the world on who is the greatest fighter will once again be decided in the ring in just a few hours from now (December 8 at 9:00 PM ET/December 9, 10:00 AM, Philippine Time)  where Filipino champ and Sarangani representative Manny Pacquiao will face Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time in a welterweight division at MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.

This non-title fight will finish, once and for all, speculations on who is better fighter between the two. With Pacquiao winning his last two fights with Marquez and a draw in their first encounter, Marquez camp and many boxing aficionados are still not convinced that they were outpunched by Pacquiao and claimed that Marquez should have won it.

The two fighters first met in May 8, 2004 and ended with a draw. Pacquiao won in a split decision on their second bout on March 15, 2008 and a majority decision on their third bout last November 12, 2011.

This time, boxing fans all over the world will once again witness two future boxing hall of famers face each other for the fourth time to end this long-running feud. It should be decided by a knock-out and not on the scorecard of the judges. An impressive win that could convince everybody should seal the fate of the winner as the WBO Fighter of the decade and seal the mouth of the loser.

Many boxing analysts are putting their money to Marquez for his effort. He was training hard and even back to chopping woods to build up his stamina and strength, though, I am not sure if he is drinking again his urine. As for Pacquiao, they say that he had done so many things and lost focus on his boxing career. He had become a politician and a too much exposed celebrity.

Whatever the outcome of the fight tomorrow, one thing I am sure how will this end, Mommy Dionisia will get a new Hermes bag!

As Super Typhoon Approaches

Cagayan de Oro City, December 3, 2012 (10.30 am) - On December 16, 2011, typhoon Sendong hit the northern part of Mindanao devastating Iligan and Cagayan de Oro City causing a massive landslides and flash floods that killed more than a thousand of people. Intense rain for several hours resulted to flash floods that swept barangays near Cagayan de Oro River and Mandulog River in Iligan City at midnight where people were asleep after resting early brought by cold rainy night and untimely brown out earlier that day.

Photo taken as water subsides after 3 hours of flash flood.

Our home was not sparred by the flood. It came in the morning as I was awakened by Emily after the wall of our subdivision was breached and ravaging murky water was filling up the streets. Flood water had submerged our home up to waist-deep leaving some of our home appliances, clothes, and furniture drenched in mud.

Our share of Sendong

Cagayan de Oro City was left without potable water for a month after local water utility facilities were destroyed. Power was only restored after 3 days and dust subsided after months of cleaning.

 Typhoon Sendong sustained winds were at 90 kilometers per hour (kph) or 55 miles per hour and it unleashed more than 200mm (7.9 in) of rain causing the watershed and rivers to overflow. It was the worst storm that hit Philippines in 12 years. Because of the enormous damage and high death toll brought by Sendong, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) had retired the name Sendong in its typhoon naming list.

Today, less than a year after, another storm is brewing in the Pacific Ocean and slowly creeping the same path as typhoon Sendong, this time, it is named Pablo (international code name Bhopa). PAGASA forecasted that typhoon Pablo has maximum sustained winds of 175 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 210 kph and will landfall tomorrow morning. As signal no. 2 was raised in my home province, Surigao del Sur, we are now preparing our contingency plan and had done packing our important documents. We had already charged our cellphones and radio and constantly monitoring typhoon updates from PAGASA though its website www.noah.dost.gov.ph. Real time information such as satellite images, typhoon track, rainfall and other data are provided by the website. Unfortunately, their Hinatuan Doppler Radar is currently under maintenance servicing thus it cannot provide rain intensity images but weather stations scattered all over Mindanao could compensate such setback.

Track of Sendong on December 15 - 19, 2011

Forecast track of Typhoon Pablo

We already accepted the fact that it will hit us; it is just a matter of how hard it will hit us. We are not afraid of the strong winds but of the rain the typhoon will bring. Cagayan de Oro and Iponan rivers are still clogged up by siltation caused by illegal mining. We are used to typhoon in Surigao del Sur. It is a regular thing for us, and accepted as an act of nature. What scare us are the flash floods. It is a consequence from the acts of man driven by greed, stupidity and foolishness.