SIMON HANDED DJOKOVIC TEST IN DAVIS CUP FINAL FRANCE’S hopes of striking an early psychological blow in


their bid for a tenth Davis Cup crown suffered a potential setback Thursday when Gilles Simon drew world No. 3 Novak Djokovic.


AFP


A 8


sports The Manila Times SATURDAY D ecember 4, 2010 BY JUN MEDINA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


ILIPINO-AMERICAN boxing sensation Nonito Donaire Jr. wants no less than a knock out win when


Montiel gives me the motivation to win big in this fight,” Donaire said during a chance encounter at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium during the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito weigh in.


he takes on world champion Wladimir Sidorenko for the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim bantamweight title on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.


Nicknamed “The Filipino Flash,” Donaire said a convincing victory would bolster his big-ticket match- up against Mexican Fernando Montiel, who holds the World Box- ing Council (WBC) and World Box-


Extra motivation


“I’m not looking past Sidorenko, but just the thought of fighting


Captain Planet


new alias given to Los Angeles Clippers rookie forward-cen- ter Blake Griffin by Utah Jazz swingman C.J. Miles after a game wherein Grif- fin scored 35 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. To the uninitiated, Captain Planet was an animated series in the early 90s wherein five teenagers were given powers to control the earth’s ele- ments. Whenever they were in trou- ble they could not handle, they combined their powers to form Captain Planet.


C


This moniker just might stick with the 6-10 Griffin since it seems he can do it all. Griffin is back with a vengeance after missing the entire 2009 to 2010 season due to a frac- ture in his left knee. And now he is making up for lost time. Griffin is a well-rounded player


APTAIN Pla- net. That is the


CROSSOVER


and is athletic as they come. He has a very strong built and can bang with the biggest power forwards in the league but is so quick and explosive that he runs rings around his defend-


ers. He has a good nose for the ball and rebounds very well. More im- portantly, he knows how to drop the ball for an assist and exhibits a high basketball IQ. If you need any evi- dence of his excellent body control and skills, Griffin’s rim-shattering dunks for this season are on display in various websites. Currently, Griffin is averaging


20.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. But you can expect these numbers to go up as he has been having some 30-point games and the scary thing is, he is still adjusting with playing in


He said Sidorenko, the WBA ban-


ing Organization bantam titles, in a televised HBO fight on February 19.


tamweight champion for three years, is a skillful boxer with a good resume. A bronze medalist in the 2000 Syd- ney Summer Olympics, the Ukranian star successfully defended his world title six times from 2005 to 2008. By strike of luck, Donaire-Sido- renko was elevated to headline the Top Rank Promotions pay-per-view event after unbeaten Mexican middle- weight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was forced to withdraw with a week left before the fight because of the flu. Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum


thinks Donaire, who ranks fifth in The Ring magazine pound-for-pound ranking, deserves the star billing. “Next to Manny Pacquiao, Donaire is the best Filipino fighter around. He’s certainly one of the best in the lighter weight categories, and I think this is his time to shine,” Arum said. Arum said a victory by Donaire


would open the door to even bigger fights, including a February show- down with Montiel, who is consid- ered the finest active Mexican fighter.


Next Manny Pacquiao The 28-year-old Donaire (24-1,


16 knockouts), who is widely tipped by fight fans as “the next Manny Pacquiao,” could be on the verge of his break-out mo- ment should he overcome Sido-


LEBRON MAKES TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING LEBRON JAMES, a former hero booed as a villain in a long-


awaited return to the city he spurned, scored 24 of his 38 points in the third quarter Thursday to spark Miami’s 118-90 rout of Cleveland. AFP


Donaire wants knockout win vs. Sidorenko F


renko (22-2-2, 7 knockouts). Donaire admitted that while he is flattered being compared with the greatest boxer in the world, he insisted that “there’s only one Manny Pacquiao” and that he is a tough act to follow.


Donaire said he hopes to get more of the bigger fights which seem to have eluded him since his sensational fifth-round knockout of the then unbeaten flyweight cham- pion Vic Darchinyan in 2007. He said his idea of a dream fight


would be against would be against fast-rising Puerto Rican superstar Juan Manuel Lopez.


The Boricuan puncher-boxer is best remembered by Filipinos for stopping the ageless Pinoy ring technician Gerry Peñalosa and


PINOYS FIRST MATCH IN SUZUKI CUP YIELDS DRAW


THE Philippine team’s first match in the 2010 Asian Football Federation’s Suzuki Cup opener yielded a draw. The Filipinos, relying on Chris Greatwich game-tying goal forced a 1-1 draw against three-time cham- pion Singapore at the My Dinh Sta- dium in Hanoi Vietnam. The victory


earned the Philippine team one point. “Now they can see that we are no longer pushovers. Before the game, people here were talking about how many goals they [Singapore] will score against us. Now everybody is taking notice,” said team manager Dan Palami.


Arcilla defends PCA title


FOUR-TIME men’s champion Johnny Arcilla will have his hands full when he defends his crown in the 29th Philippine Columbian Open (PCA) beginning today at the PCA indoor shell claycourt in Paco, Manila.


➤ Planet A6


The second-seeded Arcilla will be up against some veteran interna- tional campaigners in Filipino- Americans Andrew Cooney and Rickey Baylon, as well as Filipino- German Marc Sieber and Milan- based Marc Reyes.


Not to be overlooked is Southeast Asian Games veteran Patrick John Tierro, who has had a few runner up finishes in the tournament pre- sented by Cebuana Lhuillier. “The field is tough this year compared last year. It’s going to be a daunting task but I’m ready to face the challenge,” said Arcilla, who is fresh from a stint in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China along with Cecil Mamiit, Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales. ➤ Title A6


Neil Etheridge proved solid in front of goal, while Rob Gier, Aly Borro- meo, Anton del Rosario and Ray Jonnson thwarted wave after wave of attack as the Filipinos survived with- out conceding in the first half. “We worked very hard to keep our shape, to keep our discipline and we


got lucky with a couple of minutes to go. The passion these boys have shown is just unbelievable,” said the Philippine team’s English coach Simon McMenemy.


The Philippines is set to face Vi- etnam, which already garnered three points on Sunday. JOSEF T. RAMOS


Patriots labor to end slump


DEFENDING champion Philippine Patriots would attempt to end a two-game losing skid when they face Satria Muda BritAma Saturday in the second Asean Basketball League at BritAma Indoor Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Patriots, who defeated BritAma for the title in the inaugu- ral staging last year, would enter in the match coming from two straight defeats, the latest from the Kuala


Lumpur Dragons, 81-96, on Saturday in Malaysia. With just a 6-3 slate, the Patriots


dropped to solo second behind solo leader Thailand, which has 7-2 card. Despite the recent setback, the


Patriots, however, remain a solid favorite in their 6 p.m. encounter with the Indonesians, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the standing with 2-8 record.


➤ Slump A6


featherweight title prospect Ber- nabe Concepcion. The co-main event in the Anaheim fight card features Mexican Hum- berto Soto (53-7-2, 32 by knock- outs), who will defend his WBC lightweight title against former Pacquiao sparring partner Urbano Antillon (28-1, 20 knockouts) of Maywood, California.


Also in the card is the super mid-


dleweight scrap between Jose Pinzon (18-1, 12 knockouts), who replaced Chavez, versus junior middleweight Pawel Wolak (27-1, 17 knockouts). Another interesting match-up is that of undefeated featherweight Miguel Garcia (23-0, 19 knockouts), the younger brother of Donaire’s trainer Robert Garcia, who will take on Olivier Lontchi (18-1-2, 8 knockouts).


RAFFY


LEDESMA


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