INQUIRER Sports

DID RICKY HATTON leave his shield n the dugout when he walked into the Las Vegas battle site on Sunday?

Looked very much like it.

Of course, there was this more believable claim that Hatton, after all, had no shield to speak of.

To boxing purists, it was no longer a case of Hatton foolishly exposing himself to Manny Pacquiao?s thunderbolt punches.

It was actually a bad case of Hatton being unable to take a punch properly.

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Pacquiao, early in his career, was not good in this area of the fight game.

But, although not a defensive genius himself, Pacquiao has learned to live with big blows, maybe bringing into the boxing ring an inborn survival gift, often mistaken for a charm or amulet.

Anyway, one tested way to lessen the impact of a big blow is this thing called ?rolling with the punches.?

There?s a set of moves?like moving the head in the opposite direction to avoid a thrown punch?that can help.

There are also ways on how to take a good fall.

It was too bad that Hatton was rendered blind and mindless in a blink when he tamely received that mythical Pacquiao left to the jaw.

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Here at home, in our cluttered, chaotic national sports hierarchy, the Philippine Olympic Committee, hobbled down by various leadership squabbles, has been put on the defensive by revolting national sports associations (NSAs).

There are at least nine of these NSAs, according to a text message received by the Inquirer on Thursday.

Led by former First Lady Amelita Ramos of the badminton association, the protesting NSAs and their top leaders signed a ?declaration of solidarity and concern for RP sports during a unity meeting at the Quezon City Sports Club.?

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There was a clear intent to knock out the POC with a single big blow.

The attack visibly pushed Cojuangco, et al against the ropes.

But yesterday, Cojuangco came up with an unexpected counterpunch.

He announced that the International Olympic Committee has empowered the POC to ?settle leadership disputes in the national sports associations.?

?The revised constitution and by-laws of the IOC have designated all Olympic committees as final arbiters in all intra-NSA squabbles,? Cojuangco announced.

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Of course, unlike in Pacquiao?s cold-blooded stoppage of Hatton, the fight is far from over for the POC.

Cojuangco, et al could well be still on the defensive, if not exactly against the ropes.

Cojuangco has, in fact, designated the battle-scarred Go Teng Kok to mount a wall for the embattled POC.

In defense of the POC, Go is scheduled to show up, with both guns blazing, in the next POC executive board meeting on Wednesday.

?He will move that Mayor Bambol Tolentino of Tagaytay be reprimanded or suspended for his trash talk against the POC in last Monday?s issue of the Inquirer,? said lawyer Samuel Estimo, a tested rights lawyer in local sports.

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Estimo has also reminded Tolentino that he had already submitted to the jurisdiction of the POC when he voluntarily appeared in the mediation proceedings scheduled by the Olympic body to resolve the impasse in the local cycling leadership.

Estimo went on to explain that?on the stand of the International Cycling Union (UCI) that it has already recognized Tolentino as PhilCycling president?the UCI has no business interfering in the way the POC proposes to settle the internal dispute of an NSA.

?The act of the UCI in dictating to our sports leaders how to tackle our cycling electoral problem is similar to the United Nations telling us how to conduct our next presidential election.?

Tolentino cannot be expected to surrender without putting up a fight.

Here?s hoping propriety finally triumphs, with nobody landing cold and mindless like Hatton on the floor.