Harbour Centre and Pacquiao

Two sporting events over the weekend thrust the Philippines into the international scene once again.

First was the RP-Harbour Centre victory in Jakarta in the 2007 SEABA (Southeast Asian Basketball Association) Champions Cup Saturday evening.

The second was Manny Pacquiao’s successful defense of World Boxing Council International super featherweight title over Mexican Jorge Solis via an eighth round stoppage at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The two victories merely served to highlight the added luster and prestige that successes in international campaigns bring. As Harbour Centre team owner and Philippine amateur basketball godfather, ex-De La Salle University cager, Mikee Romero, said, "Nothing is sweeter than winning gold for the country. Sobrang proud kami sa ating mga players who played flawless basketball. This victory is for the Filipino people."

Romero said that the quality of the Filipinos play was so "picture perfect" that the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Investment who handed him the trophy commented that "we (Filipinos) taught the Indonesians how to play basketball Saturday night."

While the players executed the game plan, three cage tacticians in the coaching staff headed by Junel Baculi did the scouting and employed their knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of both the Indonesians and the Filipinos to take the sting out of the same team that beat Harbour Centre by five just a few days ago. The three, Louie Alas, George Gallent and Jun Noel merited praises from Romero who noted that despite the unruly crowd and rugged tactics of the home team, the Filipinos kept their cool.

According to Romero, as sweet as receiving the championship trophy was getting hold of a certification from FIBA Sec. Gen Datoh Yeoh that the Philippines was formally accepted into the FIBA. Romero added how sweet it was to have this victory as the Philippines homecoming. For some, the appropriate theme song for the occasion should be "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" which is about welcoming a person back to his hometown after being banished and exiled for years.

The Harbour Centre-Team Philippines walloped Satria Muda Britama-Indonesia, 85-67, as the Philippines marked its return to international competitions after being suspended by the international basketball federation (FIBA). Harbour Centre led at halftime, 40-25, with Marvin Cruz (later named the tournament’s most valuable player) and Nigerian import Julius Nwosu (awarded the Final MVP) with 20 and 18 points, respectively.

Unlike Harbour Centre which played an almost flawless game, the same could not be said of Pacquiao who struggled through all of eight rounds before finishing Solis.

It was clear from the opening bell that Pacquiao had before him a puzzle in the name of Solis who fought a fight that the Filipino boxing idol rarely encountered in his checkered career. The elongated Solis, who stands at 5’10", compared to Pacquiao’s 5’7", kept Pacquiao at bay for the first six rounds with his double left jabs and lots of backpedaling as the champion rushed forward.

It was clear that Solis and his corner did their homework and scouted Pacquiao properly. The problem was, considering the obviously limited skills of Solis, the inability of the Mexican to consistently employ and sustain such a strategy over 12 rounds. It was the first time that Solis was in the same ring with a fighter with blinding hand speed, excellent footwork, good head movement and power in both fists that came from all directions. It was therefore merely a matter of time before Pacquiao would tag the wily Mexican who threw 149 punches to Pacquiao’s 342. Compubox recorded Pacquiao landing 140 punches to Solis’s 63.

The fight also showed that Solis can’t take a punch.

A review of the tapes showed that the left uppercut that dropped Solis for the first time in the eighth was more like a short left hook whose power emanated from Pacquiao’s arm rather than from the whole body.

And yet, Solis had the gall to say that his wife punched harder than Pacquiao. This prompted one American writer in fightnews.com to call Solis comment "asinine" and to say that if Solis wants a rematch (which is unlikely), "Solis should consider having her to sub for him if she is anywhere around 130 pounds."