"Three Famous Filipino Athletes Who Made Me Proud of My Own Race"
We all know that whenever Manny Pacquiao the Pambansang Kamao (the National Fist) fights inside the ring, everyone gets excited, crime rate decreases, people halts on what they’re doing and the masses are united!
When I was in high school, I remembered Manny Pacquiao’s first fight against Mexico’s “El Terrible” Eric Morales. It was raining that time but the bad weather did not really to stop me from going to my neighbor’s house just to watch Pacman’s fight.
I felt so worried when Pacquiao suffered a head-butt on round 5 but I was impressed by his courage to fight until the end of round 12. Morales won that fight though in a unanimous decision but it was unimpressive to me. You can watch the highlights here
I knew that Manny could win that fight if he did not received that cut above his right eye. Manny won his 15 matches after that loss! He also knocked the hell out of Eric Morales during their second and third bouts. Well, it was not a surprise at all haha.
The point of this post is not to talk and brag about Manny Pacquiao achievements. He is one of the greatest Filipino athletes that made the Filipinos proud of their nationality. But Pacquiao is just one of the greatest Filipino athletes who made us proud of our own race.
Below are my top 3 Filipino athletes who made me proud of being a Filipino! And my top 1 of course is none other than Manny Pacquiao himself.
Manny Pacquiao born as Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao on December 17, 1978 is a Filipino professional boxer who is currently serving as a Senator of the Philippines. He started his professional boxing career on 1995 and won his boxing debut against another Filipino in a unanimous decision. Source Wikipedia.
He is the only eight-division world champion in the history of the sport, having won multiple major world titles, as well as being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions. Source Wikipedia.
He is also the first boxer in history to win a major world title in four of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the "glamour divisions”: flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight. Source Wikipedia.
He earned his nickname “The Mexicutioner” when he defeated numerous famous Mexican boxers such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Eric Morales, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, Hector Velasquez and his rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Antonio Margarito was later added on that list.
He has professional boxing record of 68 wins. He won 59 of all that fights with 38 coming by way of knockout. He loss 7 fights including his recent controversial defeat against the Australian Hornet Jeff Horn. He also has 2 draws in his record.
On 2014, Manny Pacquiao made his way in to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as the playing coach of Kia Motors Basketball Team. This decision was hardly criticized by netizens which only made Manny Pacquiao famous all over the internet haha.
The second on my list is Efren “Bata” Reyes. Efren Manalang Reyes was born on August 26, 1954 in Pampanga, Philippines. He is a Filipino professional billiard player who is famous for his nickname “Bata” or “Kid” in Filipino.
When he was still a kid, he worked as a billiard attendant at his uncle’s billiards hall where he learned to play the sport that made him famous. With his exceptional abilities at young age, he began competing and winning international tournaments held in the US, Europe and some parts in Asia. Source Wikipedia.
By the mid-1990s, he became one of the elite players of the Philippines alongside Jose Parica and Fransico Bustamante. He was also dubbed as “the Magician” due to his legendary ability to kick safe and to kick balls into intended pockets. Source Wikipedia.
There is absolutely no doubt that Efren “Bata” Reyes is greatest Filipino pool player of all time! And for the record, I could not write all his achievements in this blog because it’s just too many! But his legacy began when he defeated Nick Varner to win the US Open Nine Ball Championship in 1994 which made him the first non-American to win the event!
Reyes has also appeared in movies and in television. One of his movies include Pakners with the late Fernando Poe, Jr. And according to FPJ himself, this movie was his tribute to Efren for effort in putting the Philippines in the sports world map. It was one of my favorite movies as both are my idols!
Reyes who is now 63 years old, said (in an interview with ABS-CBN) that he is retiring from the game. He said that he already have problems with his eyesight and that his wrist isn’t as steady as before too. Source abs-cbn news.
The third on my list is the Filipino-American mixed martial artist Brandon Michael Vera or most famously known as Brandon “The Truth” Vera. He was born on October 10, 1977 in Norfolk, Virginia in United States.
He earned a four-year athletic scholarship to Old Dominion University for excelling in wrestling during his high school years. He dropped out of college, joined the Air Force and continued training wrestling at United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Source Wikipedia.
Lloyd Irvin, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt introduced mixed martial arts to him. He fought his MMA debut on July 6, 2002 against Adam Rivera and won a first round TKO. He continued his legacy by entering the WEC 13 Heavyweight Tournament in 2005 and won two bouts in one night.
Vera then entered in UFC with his first fight against Fabiano Scherner on October 3, 2005 which he won via knockout in round number 2. He tasted his first defeat in the hands of Tim Sylvia via unanimous decision. Fabricio Werdum then defeated him via technical knockout in UFC 85.
Brandon Vera did not really have a significant success in the UFC although he had faced famous UFC fighters such as Randy Couture and Jon “Bone” Jones. Vera was defeated against both fighters but his fight against Randy Couture was a controversial one.
He leaves UFC and signed with the Singapore-based promotion One FC or better known as One Championship on July 13, 2014. On December 5 that same year, Brandon made his debut against Igor Subora and won the bout via knockout in the first round.
He then defeated Paul Cheng in the first round on December 11, 2015 to win the One Heavyweight Championship in the event called Spirit of Champion. He had also successfully defended his title against Hideki Sekine via TKO in the first round.
I really liked Vera’s aggressiveness and high IQ inside the ring. What I also liked about him is his admiration towards the Philippine culture. In fact, he has a tattoo in his back which was written in baybayin which reads mundo or earth, hangin or wind, apoy or fire and tubig or water. Source Wikipedia.
Brandon Vera will soon appear in the movie Buy Bust with the famous Filipina actress Anne Curtis Smith and action star Victor Neri. You can watch the trailer here.
These are the people who made me proud of my nationality. Paeng Nepomuceno should have been in this list but it’s just that I am not into bowling. They always remind that Filipinos are badass in the world of sports.
I always live by the quote “Pinoy ka, astig ang lahi mo, walang tatalo sayo!” which translates to “You are a Filipino, your race is superior, nobody can defeat you!”.
How about you guys? Who are your top 3 Filipino athletes? I challenge you to comment below your top 3 Filipino athletes which made you proud! I will upvote practical line up.
References:
1.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_career_of_Manny_Pacquiao
2.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efren_Reyes
3.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Vera
