BBM’s are reprogrammed and ready to go! To all the regular readers out there that noticed I was gone, JM's BBM's are back after about a monthlong layoff. To make a long story short, I've been dividing my time between work during the week and Las Vegas on the weekends for the World Series of Poker, which I'll document at a later post. Needless to say, time has been in short supply, but as the Series closes I'm finding the time to knock out these weekly posts once again. Let's dive right in to see what's going on in the world of Pil-Ams in sports.
-The trend of celebrities and athletes jumping from their area of expertise to the world of politics officially continues as the fighting pride of the Philippines, Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao was sworn into the Philippine Congress this past Monday as the Representative of the province of Sarangani. While Pacquiao is busy handling the politics of his new position, promoter Bob Arum is also hard at work trying to navigate the politics that broke down the proposed mega multi-million fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr earlier this year. A tentative target date for the two Pound-for-Pound king contenders has now been set for November.
-Men aren't the only boxers out there who fight professionally. Women can more than hold their own in the Sweet Science, and arguably have a higher threshold for pain compared to their male counterparts. Pilipina-American Ana "The Hurricane" Julaton (6-2-1, 1 KO) fought and regained her WBO World Female Super Bantamweight title against Mexico's Maria Elena Villalobos (6-3-0, 3 KO) on June 30th, in Ontario, Canada, at the “Casino Rama”. Julaton, who trains at “Wild Card” gym in California just like Manny Pacquiao, is coming off of a loss to Lisa Brown last March entering this fight. The same goes for her opponent, who is coming off a decision loss of her own 2 months ago. This belt is Ana's 3rd world title in her storied career.
-The month of June was all about the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. With the help of his teammates, Bryant was able to will his team on to an entertaining 7 game series against their arch rivals, the Boston Celtics. This win led to Bryant's 5th championship title as a Los Angeles Laker and also earned his second consecutive Finals MVP honors. Despite it being the off season, Kobe is still heavily involved in the world of basketball. As mentioned in a previous post here in BakitWhy.com, Kobe Bryant, along with Gina Alexander, the Black Card Circle Foundation, and Nike, will present 10 underprivileged children an opportunity to attend the KB24 based basketball camp in Santa Barbara, CA.
-Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz has been on a tear the past few months in the world of Mixed Martial Arts in the UFC. Coming off of an impressive come-from-behind victory over Kendall 'Da Spyder' Grove in his most recent bout, Munoz set to face overseas sensation Yushin 'Thunder' Okami next month in San Diego, CA. Mark has been hard at work training at his recently opened gym in Lake Forest, CA, which is known as the “Reign Training Center”, and looks to be in top shape to continue his move on the way up into the upper echelon of fighters who are looking for a shot at the middleweight title.
-Current NL Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants has recovered nicely from his slump late May. After enduring 2 poor starts and 2 losses to end the previous month, Lincecum went on a 3-game win streak, averaging nearly 7 K's per outing in the month of June en route to a 3-1 record, and currently sits at an 8-3 record. Lincecum would need to improve even more if he figures to have a shot at a record 3rd straight Cy Young award. The front runner so far is Colorado Rockies' ace Ubaldo Jimenez, currently with a 13-1 record and an unreal 1.60 ERA.
Feels good to be back, next week i'll post about the previous month and what i've been involved in that kept me away for a while. For all those who still haven't caught the poker bug, stay tuned until next week for a crash course in the world of poker!
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