The Boxing World Cup: Philippines vs Mexico was held in Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA, USA. Six Filipino fighters were pitted against 6 Mexican boxers this morning Philippine time. Now that all the six fights are all done and over, the Philippines came out with 5-1 victory just as Trainer Freddie Roach predicted.

I woke up late and was only able to watch the last 2 fights. The first one I was able to watch was the fight of Gerry Peñalosa against WBO bantamweight defending champion, Johnny Gonzales. The first few rounds was a close fight with some furious exchanges. I thought Gonzales had the upper hand on Peñalosa who was shorter and older than him then came the 7th round. Peñalosa hit Gonzales with a fatal blow on the lower section of the body. Gonzales had a delayed reaction before losing his balance and felling on his knees on the canvass a few seconds after the big punch. He was no longer able to recover and Peñalosa fell to his knees knowing that he has snatched WBO bantamweight title from Gonzales. Peñalosa won via knockout over the heavy favorite Johhny Gonzales. It was a stunning victory! Gerry Peñalosa who hails from Cebu is once again a champion after 10 years.

In the last fight and the main event, Daniel Ponce De Leon slugged it out with Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista. It was a very short match though. De Leon was very aggressive and demolished Boom-Boom in the first round knocking him down twice in the round before the referee finally stopped the fight. It was the only defeat of the Philippines and a painful one for Boom-Boom who came in before the fight without any loss. De Leon retained his WBO super bantamweight title.

Prior to the Johnny Gonzales and Gerry Peñalosa match, the Philippines already had a 4-0 lead. Diosdado Gabi defeated Jose Angel Beranza via a unanimous decision. Michael Domingo gave the 2nd win for Team Philippines with an upset six-round decision over Miguel “Mickey Mouse” Roman. AJ “Bazooka” Banal stopped Jorge Cardenas in the third round to give the Philippines a 3-0 lead. Z Gorres helped Team Philippines in clinching the World Cup title by stopping Eric Ortiz in the 8th round.

My boss just asked me if I have read the news. He told me the 3 Pinay climbers already reached the summit of Mt. Everest today, May 16, 2007. My boss knows I like to climb that’s why he asked me if I was on top of the Everest news of the 3 Pinay climbers. I’ve been so busy the past few weeks that I haven’t kept track of the news lately.

My boss further asked me if I also aim of climbing Everest. I replied to him that I dream about but I’m not sure if I’m physically fit like them and it costs millions of Pesos to climb Mt. Everest. The permit alone costs US$10,000 then add travel, food, equipment, oxygen, insurance and Sherpa fees. I think I’ll just have to dream about this

It was May 17, 2006 when the First Filipino, Leo Oracion, summitted Mt. Everest. One year after Leo Oracion, Erwin “Pastour” Emata and Romi Garduce successfully summitted Mt. Everest, it’s the women’s turn to summit the world’s tallest mountain.

I opened the Official Website of the 1st Philippine Mt. Everest Exepedition but there was no recent news there. The last news on the site was still April 17. I opened ABS-CBN’s website since they are the one sponsoring and covering the climb and the news was there – Three Pinays on top of the world!

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First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition official website

Today is a great day for Filipino mountaineers as well as for the entire Filipino nation. A Filipino finally reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world at 8,848m (29,028 ft.). Leo reached the summit today, May 17, 2006 at 3:30 PM Nepal time (5:30 PM Phil. time). I definitely didn’t had any doubt in my mind that he was gonna make on top. I still remember Leo when he joined the 2nd Visayas National Orienteering Competition which we organized and hosted last 2000. He was just starting out then in the adventure racing circuit. Partnering with Rob Greville they won the race and since then he has been winning adventure races one after the other.

During the 3rd Visayas Mountain Festival held last March in Patag, Silay, Art Valdez, Expedition Leader of the 1st Philippine Mount Everest Expedition informed MFPI members about the status and plans of the Expedition.

The RP Everest Team was set to climb Mt. Everest in 2007 but after Garduce announced his plans to climb Mt. Everest May of this year there has been a change of plans and FPMEE team decided to send out two of their best climbers, Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata to the summit of Everest as a “reconnaissance” climb before next year’s First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition dubbed as the “Unity climb”.

The goal is still half-way done. I wish Leo a safe journey back to base camp.

Last April 5 I wrote in my other blog the following:

Speaking of climbing Mt. Everest, it would be interesting to see who would really get to climb there first. Would it be Romy Garduce or Leo and Pastor of the RP Everest Team. It’s quite unfortunate that their expedition has become a network war of GMA7 and ABS-CBN. It doesn’t matter who gets there first. Whoever it is, Filipinos should be proud about it. Although, honestly speaking as a member of the MFPI I would like to see Leo and Pastor of the RP Everest team get there first. I’m looking forward to see who’s going to get there first.

Links to the Summit news:

http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=2011

http://news.inq7.net/top/index.php?index=1&story_id=76078

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=39008

The SEAG was formally opened here in Cebu today at the Cebu City Sports Complex. The place was fully jampacked with spectators who wanted to witness the SEA games opening ceremonies.

Cebu will be hosting 6 games namely Sepak Takraw, Dance Sports, Judo, Karatedo, Mountain Biking and Pencak Selat. Other places hosting the games are Manila, Bacolod City and Subic.

Fireworks Display

More Fireworks Display

*More pictures can be viewed from my Flickr site

I was able to finish the 10Km fun run in an hour…not that bad but I’m really wishing I could improve my time to probably 50 mins and eventually 40 mins for the 10K. I really got to work on my speed work. Side stitches are always a major problem for me as it causes me stop for a few mins. thereby making me lose precious minutes. I’m not really sure what’s causing my side stitches. I’m always conscious to start out slow during any run but I still somehow end up having side stitches during almost any run.

I’m very excited for tomorrow’s Queen City Run. I have a surge of adrenaline rush right now. I hope I’ll have the same energy tomorrow during the fun run.