December 2007 Archives

ARE you confident that Manny Pacquiao will defeat his old foe, Juan Marquez, the reigning World Boxing Council superfeatherweight champ? Well, Pacman has assured Filipinos that he will do just that on March 15 when he and Marquez clash at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Here are two videos taken by INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla during the press conference at Crowne Plaza.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Online Videos by Veoh.com

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net EXPECT the fireworks to fly this Sunday, Dec. 9 at the "Ring of Fire: World Team Challenge" mixed martial arts competition which kicks off 1 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. I was at the Crowne Plaza hotel with INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla and INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania this afternoon for the press conference that formally introduced the fighters of the four teams competing in "Ring of Fire." Here's a photo of (l-r) me, Erika, Royce Gracie and Alex taken by Rica Manalang, PR officer of Image Communicator, which is handling the publicity for the "Ring of Fire" event. The four teams competing in "Ring of Fire" are Team Shamrock, coached by Ken Shamrock; Team Gracie, coached by Royce Gracie; Team Barnett, coached by Josh Barnett; and Team Gokor, coached by Gokor Chivichyan. Continuing the legendary rivalry between Shamrock and Gracia, their two teams will square off on Sunday, while Team Barnett will face Team Gokor. An alternate team whose fighters will step in case of injury was also introduced, coached by Kimo. Here are photos taken by Alex. Here's Team Shamrock. Team Gracie. Team Barnett. Team Gokor. And Team Kimo. Here's a photo of me (right) and Alex with Ken Shamrock taken by one of our fellow journalists covering the event. And here's a pic of Erika and Royce Gracie taken by Alex. And guess what? Royce said "Mahal kita" to Erika, hehe :) Which is why our running joke now is "Hoyce (that's how you pronounce his name, in case you're not a fan of MMA) hearts Herika ('coz Erika quipped that all you see in many of her photos and videos is her long hair). Will post our video interviews once they're online.

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net AS a longtime fan of mixed martial arts competitions, I can tell you it was a great pleasure to interview MMA fighters Kimo and Heath Herring. Kimo and Heath dropped by the INQUIRER.net office to help promote the "Ring of Fire: World Team Challenge" competition organized by Proelite.com and Platinum Fighting Productions, which will be held at 1 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City on Dec. 9. Here are two video clips taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania. Here's a clip of Kimo (left) and Benny Tuazon Jr., president of Fearless Fighting Productions, encouraging Filipino fans to watch "Ring of Fire" this Sunday. And here are Kimo (left) and Heath gamely demonstrating a choke hold. These two fighters were such good sports in granting our requests, especially since Kimo has an injury. Here are some photos taken at the INQUIRER.net office. From left to right, that's Kimo, Alex, me and Heath. Photo taken by INQUIRER.net editorial assistant Feliza Cana. Here's a group pic with other members of the INQUIRER.net team taken by Alex. Heath, by the way, went to the office with his girlfriend, professional poker player Lacey Jones. Keep visiting INQUIRER.net as we'll have my interview with Kimo, Benny, Heath and Lacey online soon :)

CONGRATULATIONS to Filipino boxing champs Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire and Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista, who both defeated their Mexican opponents to retain their belts. "The Filipino Flash" stopped Luis "Titi" Maldonado in the eighth round in Mashantucket, Connecticut, while "Boom Boom" won via a unanimous decision over Antonio "Barrio" Meza at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. In the same Boom Boom-Barrio fight card, AJ "Bazooka" Banal retained his World Boxing Organization Youth super flyweight with a ninth-round technical knockout against Mexican Jovanny "Bambino" Soto. Kudos to our Filipino boxers!