YES, I Beat You Pacquiao”—that’s how the title of the book translates in English. It was written by Mexican boxer Juan Manuel “El Dinamita” Marquez in Spanish and he would most likely have an English version soon.
Internet reports have it that five thousand copies have been initially published and distributed around Mexico and most likely even the United States where there are so many Spanish-speaking inhabitants.
Incidentally, I just spoke very recently with a former Filipino world boxing champion whom I asked for an honest opinion regarding Pacquiao’s three fights with Marquez which ended in a draw, a split decision and a majority decision in that order.
“Do you believe Marquez lost all three?” I asked the former champ.
His reply: “Off the record?”
I nodded.
“The way I look at it, Pacquiao won the first two and lost the third one,” he said.
* * *
The former champ and a group of boxing scribes, me included, had been speculating on the next possible opponent of the 8-division world champion this November and everyone agreed that among Timothy Bradley, Marquez and Miguel Cotto, it would most likely be Marquez.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had presented the three reruns during his visit to GenSan over a week ago but got no reply from Pacquiao who wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Arum said that if a match with Floyd Jr. could be arranged, it couldn’t be earlier than April 2013.
Thus Pacquiao is left with no other option but to choose from the three names presented by Arum.
“Bradley is out because their June 9 fight was a big pay-per-view flop,” said one scribe. “It couldn’t be Cotto either because it would be difficult for him to go down to a weight of 147.”
At the time we were talking, no one among us has heard about Marquez’s book yet.
Otherwise some wise guy would have surely made a crack about the Pacman writing a book entitled ” Yes, I beat you Bradley.”
* * *
From the PBA office in Libis, businessman Mikee Romero proceeded to a cafe in nearby Eastwood City after the special PBA board meeting that tackled the issue of his purchase of the Powerade franchise.
Curiously, he was alone when he should have been rejoicing with people close to him. After all, his most cherished dream of owning a PBA team had been fulfilled just an hour or two earlier when the board decided to accept Sultan 900 Inc as new member.
The board sat down at noon, had lunch, then discussed the issue at hand. Then somebody called Mikee to invite him to come to the PBA office and join the meeting. The session ended with the governors shaking Mikee’s hand and welcoming him to the fold.
After a brief press conference, Mikee headed for Eastwood where he must have pinched himself over and over to find out if he was not just dreaming. If he was now really the owner of a PBA team.
Until Sultan 900 was officially accepted, Mikee did not dare make specific plans. Neither did he grant interviews.
“Baka kasi maudlot,” he said.
Well you can expect to see him at the PBA draft today wearing his dark grey Giorgio Armani Business suit.
* * *
Mikee had wanted Powerade head coach Bo Perasol to mentor his Global Port team, basically composed of carryovers from the Powerade Tigers.
Bo thought long and hard, but eventually decided to accept an offer to coach Ateneo de Manila University next season.
Glenn Capacio takes over the Global port reins in an interim capacity, with Ricky Dandan assisting him.