Philippine Showbiz Today
December 8 - 21, 2018
Basketball
23
Ateneo sweeps UP for back-to-back
championships
Ateneo de Manila University
not only re-asserted its mastery
over the University of the Philip-
pines, but also reinforced its reign
over all of the UAAP 81 Men’s
Basketball Tournament.
Thirdy Ravena continued
his series-long brilliance, Ange
Kouame came up big once more,
and the Blue Eagles crashed the
coming out party of the Fighting
Maroons with a well-earned 99-81
win in Game 2 of the Finals on
Wednesday at the Araneta Coli-
seum.
Ravena gave his team his
best game yet with a career-high
38 points to go along with six
rebounds, six assists, and three
steals while Kouame towered
above all with yet another mon-
ster-double-double of 22 markers
and 20 boards.
The decision was only in
question for the first nine minutes
until the defending champions
unleashed 10 unanswered points
that increased a five-point lead
late in the first to a 28-13 advan-
tage early in the second.
15 markers, seven boards, three
dimes, and two steals in his last
game in maroon and white.
Season MVP Bright Akhuetie
pounded in 19 points and eight
rebounds just four days after suf-
fering a hyperextended left knee.
Even after getting swept in the
Finals, the runner-up finish is still
their best showing since 1986.
BOX SCORES
ATENEO 99 – Ravena 38,
Kouame 22, Verano 11, Tio 7, Ni-
eto Ma. 6, Asistio 6, Belangel 6,
Go 3, Nieto Mi. 0, Mamuyac 0,
Mendoza 0, Andrade 0, Black 0,
Wong 0, Daves 0, Navarro 0.
That charge was sparked by
neither Ravena nor Kouame as
it was prized recruit SJ Belangel
who had four points and two as-
sists to make it all happen.
They would never look back
from there all the way to their 10th
overall men’s basketball title.
Most of those trophies have
come in the last 11 years where
the Blue Eagles have been the
kings seven times.
In the end, Belangel had six
points and two assists while Raffy
Verano had 11 markers and six re-
bounds. Graduating guard Anton
Asistio also added six points.
For UP, Juan Gomez de Liano
fronted the effort with 24 points,
seven rebounds, and three as-
sists while team captain Paul De-
siderio left it all on the court with
UP 81 – Gomez de Liaño Ju. 24,
Akhuetie 19, Desiderio 15, Go-
mez de Liaño Ja. 11, Dario 8, Lim
2, Vito 2, Manzo 0, Jaboneta 0,
Murrell 0, Spencer 0, Prado 0, Es-
pañola 0, Longa 0.
QUARTER SCORES: 25-13, 48-
37, 70-56, 99-81●
- Norman Lee, Benjamin Riego,
ABS-CBN News
Pacquiao-Broner: Rising from the ashes
by Julian-Ray Fortaleza
The MGM Grand will take the
centre stage of combat sports on
January 19th, when Senator Man-
ny Pacquiao faces off with Adrien
Broner in a bout that will answer
many questions about the two
men in the ring.
A question that has lingered
around Senator Manny Pacquiao
is not really whether he has lost
a step, but how many steps has
he lost? Since his HBO debut in
2001 Manny Pacquiao has been
at the top of every division he has
competed in and has developed
in to one of the very best of his
generation.
Pacquiao has generated hun-
dreds of millions, if not billions,
for boxing and has drawn count-
less eyes to the ring as an ambas-
sador for the sport. While these
accomplishments will surely land
him in the Hall of Fame, there is a
reason boxing is called the “cruel-
lest of sports”. In a contest where
the goal is to do damage to your
opponents, losing a step and de-
cline is usually concurrent with
dire physical consequences.
For Manny, these consequenc-
es came to pass on December 8,
2012, when he was knocked out
for the first time since 1999. Jim
Lampley and Roy Jones Jr. con-
templated, on-air, if that would be
the final fight in Pacquiao’s career.
Since the fourth bout against Mar-
quez, Pacquiao has accrued a 6-2
record with those losses coming
by way of decisions against Floyd
Mayweather Jr. and Jeff Horn in
Australia.
As one half of the highest sell-
ing fight of all time, Manny Pac-
quiao has created a respectable
career arc after the loss to Mar-
quez, and if the bout on January
19th goes in Pacquiao’s favour,
there may be an even bigger cre-
scendo in regards to public inter-
est for a Mayweather rematch.
There are undoubtedly mil-
lions on the table for his bout
against Broner, but a potential
superfight rematch with the add-
ed storyline of “He learned how
to beat Mayweather’s style” puts
hundreds of millions on the line if
victorious. From a boxing purist’s
standpoint, this statement may
seem ludicrous; as we’ve seen
years of fighters lose a rematch
in a more convincing fashion
after having “figured out” their
opponent by the end of the first
match.
From a public perception
standpoint this fight may struggle
to reach the same numbers as the
first go around, but the first was
sold at about a $100 price point.
If a rematch were to happen, sell-
ing it at the regular $60/65 may
increase the potential buys.
For a current comparison,
Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury
faced off in the first Heavyweight
Championship pay-per-view in
America in years and they needed
only 250,000 buys to break even
at $75 a buy. At a lower price, the
amount needed to break even
would be higher and market-
ing and publicity would surely be
costly as well.
A high estimate for a Pac-
quiao-Mayweather rematch to
break even can be 500,000, which
is completely do-able as the first
fight sold almost 10 times that. A
Mayweather rematch is big mon-
ey, but to set that stage Manny
Pacquiao needs to not only beat
Adrien Broner, he needs to beat
Adrien Broner up. Broner, who
uses a similar style to Mayweath-
er, is a 4 division champion who
carries his power all the way to
the last round of a fight. He uses
a philly shell- like defense with
opportunistic shoulder-roll coun-
ters like Floyd, but is more of a
puncher who overwhelms his op-
ponents with his speed and power
when at his best. Mayweather Jr’s
first instincts are defensive, while
Broner’s are offensive, which
leads to the differences in style,
even if they are aesthetically simi-
lar. Manny Pacquiao should look
good against an opponent like
Broner and set up the final phase
of his career.●
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