April 1 - 15 , 2018 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 29

For emerging victorious for a record-tying four consecutive times in the recently-ended PBA Philippine Cup , the SM Beermen upheld San Miguel Corp .’ s rich winning tradition the local sports scenes .

For proving anew they ’ re still the best team in the land with an All-Filipino line up , the Beermen showed all and sundry why SMC has always been at the forefront of every Philippine campaign in all international competitions in almost all sports ,

Be it in basketball , boxing , athletics , cycling , golf archery , baseball , dragon boat , judo , karatedo , wrestling , muay and even in such events as petanque and lawn bowling , which are alien to the Filipinos .

Ramon S . Ang , the SMC president an CEO , for instance , almost single-handedly gifted the Philippines its first overall championship in the 11-nation Southeast Asian Games by sponsoring the participation of the Filipino hopefuls 11 sports 13 years ago .

The grand scheme , an idea of the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo , which he called “ The Sports Grandfather Plan ,” netted the Philippines 56 gold medals out of the total 113 the country won

The Manny Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse World Boxing Association welterweight title fight has been moved . And so was the training schedule , particularly of the Filipino eight division champion .

Originally set to start on the third week of April to coincide with the previous June 24 fight date , Pacquiao , according to one of his trainers , will instead begin his preparations first week of May .

“ Na-move ang laban nang 12 days , so ipagpaliban din namin ang simula along with now chief trainer Buboy Fernandez and brother Roger “ Haplas ” Fernandez , will oversee the former World Boxing Organization 147-pound belt owner ’ s build up program , told the MANILA TIMES in a long-distance telephone interview Thursday from Davao City .

The Fernandezes and Neri were left to handle preparations in lieu of American Hall of Famer Freddie Roach , who , for the past 17 years had been credited for Pacquiao ’ s rise from obscurity to one of the greatest fighters in his era but was removed from that role at least for this fight .

“ Kung susundin natin ang original schedule na third week of April , masyadong matagal at baka mag-peak si Manny nang napakaaga ,” Neri reasoned out .

“ We ’ re thinking of a 10-week preparedness program , which we thought would be enough considering na kulang one year nabakante si Manny sa boksing pagkatapos ng last fight nya ,” Neri explained in reference to Pacquiao ’ s losing his title to Australian Jeff Horn July 2017 in Brisbane .

Neri said the training team sees no problem in Pacman ’ s physical condition , which he added hasn ’ t changed since that controversial loss majority of media men who covered the bout thought he won .

“ Super-active naman si Manny sa paglalaro ng basketball . “ When in Gensan ( hometown General Santos City ) he plays basketball from two to three hours nightly na walang palitan ,” malakas pa rin talaga ang katawan . Parang hindi 39 years old ,” he observed .

“ Kailangan maibalik sa kanya kung ano ang atmosphere sa boksing . One-year siyang di nakaka-akyat ng ring . One year di nakakapag-suot ng glab . This is our initial concern . Pag na-feel nya na uli itong mga ito , tuloytuloy na ,” he related .

“ No , I ’ m not saying na easy-easy lang ang preparasyon . Dapat serious din . Hindi nga masyadong kilala itong si Matthysse , pero maganda din

for a high 49.56 percentage .

All throughout the years from the mid-19th century when San Miguel Beer ( SMC ’ S original name ) named after a district in Spain where the brewery was located , was brought to the country by Spanish businessman , Senor Enrique Maria Barreto y Ycaza , the conglomerate has been one of the strongest pillars in the Philippines sports development program .

San Miguel , in fact , is the oldest existing corporate entity that has remained at the forefront of the country ’ s most glorious years not only in the Asian scene but the world as well .

For over 100 years , from October 20 , 1890 when Senor Barreto landed in the country , San Miguel continuously been of service o Philippine sports .

Ang , RSA to SMC employees , associates and friends in the business and sports sectors , is actually carrying the vision of great businessmen sportsmen who started the corporation ’ s involvement in sports .

They are the father-son tandem of Andres Soriano Sr . and Andres Jr . and sibling Andres III and the Cojuangco brothers , Ambassador ang record , “ he said referring to the Argentine ’ s 44-fight , 39-wins record ( 36 KOs ) and four losses . “ Malakas ito at may kamay .”

Matthysse , 35 , born in Trelew , Argentina , stopped Thai Tewa Kiram for the vacant WBO 147-pound plum last January at the Forum in Los Angeles .

He is kown as “ La Maquina ’ for his aggressive , pressure non-stop , formidable punching style of fighting who was also the interim superlightweight titleholder from 2012 to

They ’ re now in charge of preparing Pacquiao for next fight vs Lucas Mattthysse . In photo are Buboy , Nonoy and Haplas . Photo by Wendell Alinea / OSMP

Eduardro Danding ” and Enrique “ Henry .”

The Sorianos , of course , can be credited for establishing Asia ’ s oldest golf tournament -- the Philippine Open - - besides elevating the sport into the mainstream by pioneering he Philippine Golf Circuit and helping , too , organize he Asian Golf Circuit .

S a n M i g u e l , through the efforts of the S o r i a n o s , was , likewise , into the youth

By : Julian Ray Fortaleza

Answers from last week ’ s issue

teams to the prestigious Gothia and Helsinki Cups ( football ) tilts in Europe and jungolf tourneys in the United States . ( To be continued )

1 . George Blanda was the oldest NFL player ever at 48 years old 2 . Euginie Bouchard is Canadian 3 . The winner of the Inaugural Tour de France was Maurice Garin

New Questions

2013 .

“ Kaya yan . Although may kalakasan , hindi pa siya nakakatapat ng boksingerong de kalibre ng bata natin . Basta tama lang ang preparasyon , tingin ko di tayo tatalunin ,” Neri projected .

“ As has been reported , kapag nanalo , may mas magaganda pang labang naghi-hintay kay Manny . Alam niya ito kaya di siya papayag na matalo at mabigo ang pagbablik niya sa ring ,” he said .

1 . How many teams are in the CFL ? 2 . What championship trophy is the tallest of all 4 major sports leagues ? 3 . The Denver Nuggets have how many rookies on their roster this season ?

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