INQUIRER Sports

HE SURE KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT, squarely mano-a-mano or wildly under the table.

Battle-scarred North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Piñol, a former newspaperman, also knows how to take defeat meekly.

But seldom would he lose his cool or run out of words to seal a personal battle, win or lose.

Then he was left dumbfounded over the weekend by a first-time experience in Sydney.

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?Sorry guys, Reynaldo Belandres mauled Davey Browne but we lost by unanimous decision,? he texted friends and other concerned boxing people in Manila.

Belandres, a former amateur standout and mainstay in Piñol?s talent-rich Braveheart Stable, was handpicked to fight for the vacant World Boxing Council junior world featherweight title in a bout staged in Sydney last Friday, Oct. 9.

Before this, Piñol had brought at least a couple of his Braveheart boys to fight in Thailand where they, based on his quiet report, mauled their foes but were roughed up by Thai boxing judges in return.

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Anyway, Piñol, licking his wounds again, was packing up for home when requested to provide more details on the Belandres defeat.

He acceded by saying he thought he had already seen and experienced the worst boxing cheats in Thailand.

?Grabe, I thought nothing could be worse than Thailand,? Piñol groaned.

Of course, there are those who will claim Piñol was only sour-graping.

However, he explained that even the legendary Jeff Fenech, who did the commentary for last Friday?s fight for Australian television, denounced Belandres? defeat on points as ?truly hideous.?

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Yesterday, philboxing.com posted the following report from Piñol:

Sydney?In a dramatic display of humility and honesty, Davey Browne Sr., trainer and father of the new World Boxing Council (WBC) youth world featherweight champion Davey Jr., admitted to Australian boxing trainer Todd Makelin that he and his son were also surprised by the decision declaring the Australian fighter winner by a lopsided margin in the rugged 10-round fight against young Reynaldo Belandres of the Philippines.

Browne Sr. told Makelin that, in the spirit of sportsmanship, he was willing to let his son fight Belandres again in a rematch, although this would have to wait until next year to allow Davey Jr.?s serious injuries to heal.

Makelin was a former pro who fought Manny Pacquiao in North Cotabato years ago.

Makelin, whose mother is a Filipina, was in the corner of Belandres working as a cutman but is a close friend of Davey Browne Sr.

Browne Sr. told Makelin that he had wanted to stop the fight after the 7th round because of the big cut over the right eye of Davey Jr. but the young Australian fighter insisted on continuing. The cut needed 10 stitches to close after the fight.

He further told Makelin that when the scores were being read by the ring announcer, he thought Belandres would be declared winner and that the best he had expected for his son was a draw.

The judges? scores were: George Pellis, 98-92; Kevin Hogan, 97-95; and Will Soulos, 97-94.

Makelin added that Browne Sr. also expressed surprise at the 97-95 and 97-94 scores submitted by Hogan and Soulos because these indicated that they gave three rounds to Browne Jr. with a score of 11-9, which cannot be done in a 10-point-must scoring system where the winner of the round gets 10 while the loser gets 9.

The decision declaring Browne Jr. winner by a wide margin was met with protest by Australian boxing fans.