Kermit vs The Punisher

This just off the wire: Kermit Cintron will face Paul Williams in February of next year. Champion vs champion. The slugger vs the boxer. What a great way to kick off 08.

With this fight on tap, there's a strong possibility that the welterweight (and maybe the lightweight) division(s) could be unified by the end of next year. The winner of Cotto-Mosley will likely face the winner of Mayweather-Hatton. The winner of that bout should then face the winner of Cintron-Williams to unify the welterweight division. The last man standing will hold all 4 alphabet titles and be the true lineal champion - the way it should be.

The same scenario could play out for the lightweight division as well, provided Juan Diaz fights and defeats both David Diaz (the last alphabet titlist) and Joel Casamayor (the recognized lineal champion). Once he does that, Manny can move up in weight and take it all away from him. He he.

With next week's unification super middleweight title fight between Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler, this truly is an exciting time for boxing. Whoever said boxing is dead needs to get a clue. They're buying too much into the MMA hype. Just ask Randy Couture.

PWA Finals

We made it to the final round of the 10th annual Philippine Web Awards! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A BIG TRUCKFUL OF THANK YOUS to everyone who voted for me. I really appreciate it! Best of luck to all my fellow finalists and see you at the awards ceremony!

BAKBAKAN NA!!!

Isang tulog na lang at Pacquiao-Barrera II na! I can't wait. Go Manny!!!

The Sweet Science

The boxing matches scheduled for the latter half of 2007 are off the hook (all dates are in Manila time):

Jermain Taylor vs Kelly Pavlik (Sept. 30)

I love Pavlik. He's one of my top five favorite active fighters. Though most experts believe that Taylor is just too fast and too skilled a boxer for Pavlik, I'm really hoping that Pavlik can pull off the upset and KO Taylor.

Manny Pacquiao vs Marco Antonio Barrera (Oct. 7)

The streets of Manila will be empty again on Oct. 7 - every Filipino glued to their television sets cheering for Manny to KO Barrera a second time. Although Pacquiao is easily my favorite active fighter, I love Barrera too. I don't think this will be as easy a fight for Manny as everyone believes. Barrera has never lost to the same fighter twice. With that said though, I still believe Pacquiao will win via late stoppage.

Juan Diaz vs Julio Diaz (Oct. 14)

I love the Baby Bull's relentless-come-forward-never-get-tired-
punches-in-bunches style. He, along with Paulie Malignaggi, are my favorite non-KO artists.

Joe Calzaghe vs Mikkel Kessler (Nov. 4)

Two guys I've heard a lot about but never seen fight. I'm impartial to who wins this one. I'm just excited to see what I know will be an amazing fight between two of the world's top p4p fighters.

Shane Mosley vs Miguel Cotto (Nov. 11)

I should like Cotto since he's a KO artist similar to Tito Trinidad (one of my all-time favorites) but I don't. Maybe it's because I find his style boring. In any case, I'm not really a fan of Mosley either but I'll be rooting for him to hand Cotto his first loss.

Joan Guzman vs Humberto Soto (Nov. 18)

Two of the top up-and-comers in the super featherweight division. I've seen Soto fight once (against Bobby Pacquiao) but I've only been able to catch glimpses of Guzman on YouTube. He's supposed to be one of the top defensive fighters at any weight class. I'm really excited to see this one since either one of these guys could be facing Manny Pacquiao soon.

Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Dec. 9)

Like most people, I admire Floyd's boxing skills but can't stand the guy. I know Hatton is a long-shot to win this one but I really hope he KOs Mayweather and shuts him up for good.

"We love you Elliot!"

My wife and I went to Trinoma mall for the first time last night to watch Elliot Yamin perform. It was really cool. We've been fans of his since watching him on American Idol two seasons ago. He has a great voice and seems to be a genuinely classy and humble guy.

After the show, we were on our way back to the garage when we ran into a mob of security guards holding hands in a circle with Elliot and his band in the middle. They were quickly marching towards the carpark with a throng of Yamin fans screaming in chase. My wife and I were standing right next to his chauffeured car as he got in. Being the spirited woman that she is, my wife screamed at the top of her lungs "we love you Elliot!!!" Ha ha! He smiled at us and waved. That was fun.

Pug + Shih Tzu = ???

My wife and I decided that our next dog will be a female Shih Tzu. We'll breed her with Henry and call the puppies "Tzu Pugs."

B.A.R.F.

That stands for "Bones And Raw Food." It's this new diet we've been giving Henry and it's working wonders. He can't get enough of it. It consists of RMBs (Raw Meaty Bones) which, in Henry's case, are raw chicken backs and necks. Unlike cooked chicken bones which can splinter, raw bones are completely safe as they are softer and can easily be digested.

The philosophy behind this diet is that dogs in their natural environment (wolves, wild dogs, dingos, etc.) are carnivores, so our pets are natural carnivores as well. Kibble is made primarily with cereal and is thus not a natural part of a dog's diet. Vegetables, in a pureed form, are also part of a dog's natural diet as they often get this from their prey's stomach. Henry didn't like it too much though so we decided to omit it. And besides, the holistic doctor on Oprah who said that RMBs are the best thing to feed your dogs said nothing about vegetables anyway.

Feeding them RMBs is much healthier for them and supposedly has a number of positive side effects. In fact, we can begin to see them already. Because his body uses up more nutrients from the RMBs as opposed to kibble, he poops less and his poop almost has no smell. Since we began, he hasn't been finicky with his food and has thus not vomited from acid build-up in his stomach. Yay! Plus it's cheaper than Science Diet. Double yay!

Henry

Our buddy gave us a major scare today. He had what looked to have been a seizure.

He has a habit of vomiting about once a week for reasons the vet can't fully understand. He had a blood exam about a month ago to determine the cause, but the results were inconclusive and didn't show anything too out of the ordinary. We gave him Liv-52 for a month (for his liver) and supplemented his diet with LC-Vit and Nutri-Plus Gel. The vomiting continued, but he's usually fine right after so it hasn't been a cause for real worry.

But today was different. After a spell of dry heaving, Henry stiffened up and fell backwards so fast that he knocked his head on the floor. It was heartbreaking. He was only out for a split second but it got my wife and I so worried that we immediately rushed him to the vet. They gave him some pills (I can't remember the name right now) and again drew his blood to run some tests. We'll find out the results tomorrow.

In the meantime, he's back to his old frisky self. Thank God. I don't want to worry too much about his condition because all the worrying doesn't help. All I can do now is pray, think positively and do all that I can to make sure that he's ok.

In fact, I know he is.

To ConVickt or not to ConVickt?

My wife and I were watching The Today Show this morning and there was a piece about the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal. A representative of the NAACP brought out the race card in defense of Vick, alleging that the public's uproar is due mainly to the fact that Michael Vick is black. They felt that he had already been condemned and convicted by the public even before going to trial because of his skin color.

In my opinion, this has absolutely nothing to do with race. Did the public convict Michael Vick in their minds even before he entered a courtroom? Sure. But not because he was black. Whether that were Michael Vick or Barry Manilow on trial, the public would have reacted in exactly the same way. The victims here were innocent dogs. General opinion is often divided when it comes to issues involving adults, but not when it involves the defenseless like children or pets. It strikes an emotional chord that makes us less forgiving.

This is the reason why throngs of people were actively demonstrating outside the courthouse. They saw the overwhelming evidence against Vick and were outraged. Was it unfair for the court of public opinion to convict him even before he was given a fair trial? Maybe. But can you really blame them?

On that note, can someone tell me where I can get one of those Michael Vick dog chew toys?

Pacman

A part of my daily routine is to log on to boxingscene.com and read the articles. There was a line in an article yesterday about Manny Pacquiao that really got my attention:

"Over the past decade or so, only Mike Tyson has captured the interest and fascination of boxing fans in the manner that this little Filipino spitfire (has)..." - TK Stewart

Wow. That's a big statement, especially coming from a non-Filipino. To declare that Pacquiao's popularity and appeal is equal to that of Tyson's in his prime says just how special a fighter he's become. I love hearing boxing experts like Teddy Atlas bring up his name when discussing today's greatest fighters. Even Juan Manuel Marquez, who many consider to be the most technically skilled 126 - 130 lber, had nothing but good things to say about him. As an avid boxing fan, it makes me feel proud and privileged to be a witness to all of this.

I can't wait for the October rematch with Barrera.

5-1

5-1 + 1 world championship. Normally I'd be jumping up and down with joy but the 1 happens to be Boom Boom Bautista. I wouldn't be so bummed out about it had it been more competitive. But he was completely blown out of the building. First round knockout. It wasn't even a contest.

The funny thing is that before the fight, a part of me was actually wishing he'd lose. I always felt that it's better for a young, promising fighter to get his first loss early in his career, just to get it out of the way. Some fighters achieve too much success too early. It gets to their head and often do not recover mentally once they do suffer that first loss (i.e. Naseem Hamed). Boom Boom is young and will learn from this loss. He'll come back a better fighter and will one day become world champion.

The real story of the day though goes to Gerry Penalosa. What an awesome body shot. It was on par with the Hatton-Castillo or Hopkins-de la Hoya fights. It was perfect. And how could you not be happy for Penalosa? What you saw on his face was pure, unadulterated joy and gratitude for once again becoming world champion. And at age 35 at that. Now we have 3 legitimate world champions to be proud of. It was inspiring and easily the highlight of the day.

Pinoy Talent

I've been going through websites like Philweavers and continue to be amazed by the level of talent Filipinos have. It's incredible. Never in my days at the Academy of Art did I see the quality of talent that I've seen here. It's on a different level.

As inspiring as it is to see all this great local talent though, it can be equally as deflating. With all the envelope pushing designers are doing today, here I am still thinking that animated gifs are the bomb. Stop laughing.

World Cup of Boxing

Best of luck to all the Filipinos fighting in tomorrow's Boxing World Cup in Sacramento. How exciting is this? Boom Boom finally gets a title shot and against a brawler like Ponce de Leon at that. I can't wait. And to make things even more interesting, Manny Pacquiao is the Philippines' team captain while Barrera will be leading Mexico. Awesome. I hope Bautista and Penalosa come home with 2 more legitimate world championships for the Philippines.

The Secret

My wife and I watched The Secret last night. It was very encouraging and made a lot of sense. I realized how healthy it is - emotionally, spiritually, and physically - to recognize and be grateful for all the good things in your life. It reminded me of just how much there is to be thankful for.

The only thing now though is that I start to worry like hell whenever a negative thought enters my mind. But in the end I guess that's a good thing.

Where's Henry?

Here's Henry amongst his peers.

www.jbmacatulad.com

I finally got my website up. I was originally just going to house my portfolio in my sister's website, but since web hosting is so affordable these days I decided to register my own url. I figured it's a good investment, plus it's something to keep me busy between projects. :)