SPORTS FEATS, FACTS AND FIGURES

A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE JOAQUIN ROJAS Joaquin "Jake" Rojas, who was fondly called "Dodong" in his native Maasin City, Southern Leyte, passed away last January 30, 2018 after a long battle of a lingering illness. He was 79 having been born on July 6, 1938 in Barangay San Rafael, formerly known as Bantig, in the then Municipality of Maasin. He owns the distinction of being the only Olympian from Southern Leyte which made him an awardee as Outstanding Southern Leyteño in the field of Sports several years ago.  The Maasin City Council, in a resolution, recognized his being an exceptional basketball player who played in the national team to the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Rojas is known for playing in the point guard position. He was a member of the collegiate varsity squad of the University of the Visayas and was part of the team that scored an upset against Ateneo in the 1957 intercollegiate championship.  Rojas went on to bring his skills at the Manila Industrial and C...

Maasin City is 3rd place overall in EVRAA 2018 final medal standings The Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Asoociation (EVRAA) 2018 Official and Final Medal Tally (gold-silver-bronze) as of February 9, 2018 at Calbayog City, Samar: 1. Ormoc  109-56-74 2. Leyte   88-69-56 3. Maasin  24-35-30 4. Baybay  22-45-32 5. Tacloban  22-27-28 6. Biliran  17-18-40                             7. Northern Samar  14-19-38 8. Calbayog  14-16-36 9. Eastern Samar  12-26-39 10. Samar  7-12-18 11. Borongan  6-7-6 12. Southern Leyte   3-8-14 13. Catbalogan   3-6-13 Maasin City placed third overall even with a meager EVRAA budget allocation of P 2 million. It is the smallest division and the smallest and "poorest" LGU among the participating cities and provinces.  They had only a ten-day concentration at the Tomas Oppus Pilot School. L...

ALVARADO IS LEADING CANDIDATE AS PACQUIAO'S NEXT OPPONENT IN HIS RETURN    By Maloney L. Samaco The return of Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) is targeted on April 14 at New York's Madison Square Garden. The fight is almost finalized and it would be Top Rank's first ESPN pay-per-view event. The card would feature Pacquiao making his New York City debut against an opponent still to be officially named.  As previously reported, former WBO junior welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (38-4, 26 KOs) is a leading candidate as opponent for the fight, which Arum would not confirm nor deny. * * * The other PPV attraction would be Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) challenging WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs), the Australian boxer who defeated Pacquiao in an upset decision to seize the title before 51,000 plus crowd at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.  Crawford became undisputed junior welterweight champion, would be making his debut at the tough welt...

MAYWEATHER TO FIGHT MCGREGOR IN MMA? By Maloney L. Samaco Floyd Mayweather is heading to Minnesota where he's set to meet with Showtime Sports head honcho Stephen Espinoza.  And according to Espinoza, the two of them will definitely discuss the subject of a potential Mixed Martial Arts fight.  "It will be a topic of conversation," Espinoza told TMZ Sports. "There's a chance ... whatever he puts his mind to, he sort of wills into happening. [Floyd] willed the McGregor fight into happening. So, if he sets his mind to it, it'll happen." In the few days that passed, Mayweather has posted  two videos teasing some fans that he's going to make his debut in the MMA.  In both videos, a barefoot Mayweather enters an octagon cage and did some moves.  "2018. Floyd 'Money' Mayweather. MMA. What are the odds Paddy," Mayweather said on one of the videos that went viral on the internet. Conor McGregor has positive opinion of Mayweather i...

WHY ANCAJAS IS NOT IN SUPERFLY 2 ON HBO AND OPTS FOR TOP RANK ON ESPN  By Maloney L. Samaco    IBF world champion Jerwin "Pretty Boy" Ancajas had his dream fulfilled when he trained at the world famous Wild Card Boxing Gym, where his idol and now his co-promoter Manny Pacquiao trained for several years and became the world's top fighter pound-for-pound. Ancajas (26-1-1, 18 KOs) prepares for his fourth defense of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior bantamweight world title against contender Israel Gonzalez (20-1, 8 KOs), of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this Saturday, February 3 (Sunday Manila time) at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. * * * “I am here! My dream just came true. At last, I am at the Wild Card Boxing Club,“ said Ancajas who was do elated when he arrived at the gym where he glanced at the several memorabilia of the world's only fighting senator.  The Ancajas - Gonzalez world championship fight will be the co-main event to...