MANNY VS THE MEDIA

it's been a week and i won't validate the atrocity boxing fans witnessed in last week's title fight between manny pacquiao and timothy bradley.  i was compelled to write and vent about it here, but i encourage you to do a google search on the fight results and it is clear that my opinion wouldn't be unique at all.

instead, i wanted to post the column i did write before the fight that talks about how the match itself was being overlooked in favor of the persona that manny pacquiao has developed in recent months.  whether it is a distraction now or in the future, only time will tell and i'm sure boxing fans will agree that using last saturday's match isn't a fair benchmark to know what this version of manny pacquiao is really like.

bonus: the good folks at mabuhay also encouraged me to contribute a photo for their monthly feature entitled "mabuh-eye".  big thanks to the editors for the opportunities they've given me the past few years.  and a big congrats to my good friend jeff cruz on his recent engagement.  who in the heck would want to have the pressure of photographing his wedding?

courtesy: mabuhaycalgary.ca

de jesus. still fuming. out.

THE FIGHT ISN'T IN THE RING

here's a link to my latest article at mabuhay calgary - a column talking about the mega fight that is on, off, and then on, and then off again.  the posturing is annoying, but what's more annoying is that instead of covering the event, i'm covering why it might not happen.  to read it straight from the website, click here.

courtesy: mabuhaycalgary.ca

these fighters, these promoters, this industry... many years looking cowardly.

de jesus. still waiting. and out.

NO SHORTAGE OF WORDS

i am pleased to announce a new partnership between myself and the hard working gang at mabuhaycalgary.  as i've mentioned in previous posts, i have made contributions to the filipino news-magazine over the last few years on an as needed basis, focusing on the local community sports scene as well as serving a pseudo beat writer for anything manny pacquiao.

after some discussions with the editors and conference meetings with my agent, i was approached with an offer to write on a more regular basis, as a columnist rather than a journalist.  following in the footsteps of the greats such as bill simmons and rick reilly, how could i say no?  of course, i will do my best to put some sort of sports spin to whatever it is i write, but you can be sure that no matter what, it will be 100% authentic opinion whether you agree with me or not.  i have this sneaking suspicion that my following will be slightly less than simmons or reilly.  just slightly.

some of you may not know this, but i wrote a regular column back in 2000 for a small sports website based out of california. i was paid peanuts (literally....which explains my addiction to peanut butter) but despite payment, it was fun just writing and throwing my opinions out there for all to read.  some people didn't like me, but i also had a small (very small) following of regular readers that were fans. either really didn't matter as my young naive self preferred to be masked under a pen name so i was virtually anonymous to everyone.

to celebrate that first experience in "journalism", my feature column with mabuhaycalgary will be named exactly what i called it 12 years ago - "order amidst the chaos (OATC)". only now you know it's me writing and there is no pen name to hide behind. feel free to agree/disagree with my opinion, but either way please read and support us. it is hard work for our editors to put this together each month and we rely on your interest in keeping it going.  mabuhay yoke loves calgary.

originally printed for the Dec 2011 edition

de jesus. OATC. out.