MANILA, Philippines - Hopes of salvaging the megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are slim after American promoter Bob Arum’s”final counter offer” was quickly turned down by Mayweather’s chief adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, and negotiator, Richard Schaefer.
Arum, main man of Top Rank, had given the Mayweather camp until Monday (today in Manila) to decide on his final proposal that both parties let the Nevada State Athletic Commission to make the final decision on the blood tests issue.
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Do You Know that…
Filipino athletes have brought home a total of 9 Olympic medals since the country began participating in the quadrennial event in 1924. Teofilo Yldefonso, a 200-breastroke swimmer, won the country’s first bronze medal at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and its second bronze at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. The country actually had 3 medals in 1932 when Simeon Torribio, a high jumper, added a bronze and bantamweight boxer Jose “Cely” Villanueva clinched another bronze.
Miguel White, who fought for the country in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, won a bronze in the 400-meter hurdles event. Featherweight boxer Anthony Villanueva, a son of Jose, won the country’s first silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Villanueva actually lost a controversial decision to Russian Stanislav Stephaskin in their battle for the gold medal.
Tenpin player Arianne Cerdena won a gold in bowling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but Cerdena’s gold was not included in the medal tally since bowling was considered only as a demonstration sport. Light flyweight boxer Leopoldo Serantes, however, brought home a bronze from Seoul. Light flyweight boxer Roel Velasco won a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In taekwondo, bantamweight Stephen Fernandez and featherweight Bea Lucero brought home two bronze medals from Barcelona, but they were not included in the medal tally, since taekwondo was just counted as a demonstration sport then.
Roel’s younger brother Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco won a silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Onyok lost a controversial decision to Bulgarian Daniel Bojilov in the light-flyweight finals.
Do You Know that…
Three Filipino athletes brought home a bronze medal apiece from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso won a bronze at the 200-meter breaststroke event while Simeon Toribio also clinched a bronze in the high jump event. Jose “Cely” Villanueva clinched the country’s first boxing bronze medal in the bantamweight category.
