Noy lauds versatile Filipino Flash

It was a sports-filled weekend that spanned the University Athletic Association of the Philippines’ (UAAP’s) four opening games; the split decision victory of former world flyweight champion Brian Viloria over Mexico’s Omar Soto; the stoppage in the eighth round by interim World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. of the tough Hernan (Tyson) Marquez of Mexico; and of course, Spain’s winning the World Cup for the first time on the extra period goal from Andres Iniesta at Soccer city, Johannesburg, South Africa, over the Netherlands, 1-0. 

The victory of Donaire was expected although what came as a surprise was the Filipino Flash’s experimentation with the orthodox and southpaw stances all throughout the abbreviated fight. Donaire decked Marquez for the first time in the fifth round while in a southpaw stance and in the eighth while fighting orthodox.

Wearing yellow boxing trunks with a waistband that had the name “Aquino” on it, Donaire revealed in the post-fight telephone conversation I had with him that he had dedicated the fight to newly sworn in President Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III. The gesture brought back memories of Donaire also dedicating a fight for President Corazon C. Aquino, mother of President Noynoy, shortly after the latter died on Aug. 1, 2009. Donaire then came home and attended a mass to observe the 26th anniversary of the assassination of Sen. Ninoy Aquino on Aug. 21, 1983.

As an added bonus, Donaire also confirmed that President Noynoy and he had a brief conversation around noon (Manila time). Donaire said that President Noynoy congratulated him and told him that “he (Donaire) had done the country proud”. Donaire said that, although the call was brief owing to the bad connection, he was very grateful for the President’s call and that he was all set to pay the Chief Executive a visit when he and his wife Rachel arrive in Manila in about a week.

Asked about his plans, Donaire said that he was abandoning the 115-pound division and his next fight would be in 118-pound ranks. Eventually, he could go up to 122 and join the world’s best super bantamweights. There is also a great possibility that he would fight as a southpaw. With the victory, Donaire’s record improved to 24-1 (16 KOs).

The biggest news all over the world was Spain’s winning its first ever FIFA World Cup early Monday morning (Philippine time). The game was rugged with 13 yellow cards and one red. Iniesta broke the deadlock in the 116th minute of the classic match viewed by a global television audience that could be bigger than the estimated one billion that watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on Aug. 8, 2008.

Ben Wyatt of the CNN reports that FIFA hopes Sunday’s final between the Netherlands and Spain will prove to be the most watched event of all-time after early research suggests the 2010 edition hosted by South Africa has garnered the biggest television audience yet. “We don’t want to speculate in numbers but we’re hoping this will be the biggest (event) ever,” Niclas Ericson, FIFA’s director of television, said in a press conference from Soccer City stadium, the final’s venue. “We think it will be bigger than the 2006 World Cup final (with an) audience (of) around 700 million,” he added. The record to beat, according to CNN, is that set by the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

This distinct advantage of the Beijing Olympics is that a great majority of the Chinese, who probably constitute the largest single group of any international television audience, did watch the opening ceremony while football has not quite captured the imagination and interest of the Chinese to the point of fanaticism in most parts of Africa, South America and Europe.

Kevin Alavy, a director of Futures Sport+Entertainment, a global research and evaluation consultancy says that for any record attempt, the Chinese market was now crucial. “Historically, the World Cup final always drew more figures than anything else, however, when the Olympics took place in...the most populous nation in the world, the viewing figures went through the roof.”

For the Spaniards, the 2010 World Cup ended years of frustration, this being the first finals appearance for them. The Spaniards won the Euro championships two years ago but the World Cup is the prized championship. It was the first time that an opening day loser has won the Cup. Spain, ranked second, lost to Switzerland, 1-0, in a shocking upset, in its first game.

Totally disappointed and frustrated are the fourth-ranked Dutch who took runner-up honors in 1974 (losing to Germany) and 1978 (losing to Argentina) and appeared in their first final in 32 years.