American welterweight Mikey Garcia isn’t a fan of the idea that Conor McGregor will be shifting to boxing, saying that Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao will stop the Irish man in an “entertainment” match.
Speaking to Little Giant Boxing, Garcia, one of the closest potential boxers against Pacquiao, said McGregor wouldn’t really fare well with the Filipino eight-division world boxing champion.
“Pacquiao winning, stopping Conor,” Garcia quickly replied when answered how the match will progress. “As long as Manny wants to let it go, let it continue.”
It would be recalled that McGregor was also one of the projected opponents for Pacquiao, but the bout went down the drain after the Irish fighter suffered defeat at the hands of Justin Poirier in a rematch in the Octagon and vowed to focus on mixed martial arts first.
That said, Garcia said McGregor doesn’t have a chance of gaining a world boxing title and would be easily defeated by up-and-coming fighters in the boxing realm.
Garcia’s reason is simple: “Never happening. He (McGregor) is not a boxer. Never gonna happen.”
Meanwhile, Garcia, who holds a 40-1 record on top of 30 knockouts, earlier said the negotiation between his and Pacquiao’s camp has been going back-and-forth.
Both Pacquiao, 42, and Garcia, 33, coincidentally, are eyeing their boxing comeback in May. (Carlo Anolin)
PCA: Heroes, Knights shine
Top seeds Laguna Heroes and Iloilo Kisela Knights routed their respective division rivals and advanced to the semifinals of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All Filipino Conference Wednesday held via chess.com.
The Heroes crushed the eighth-seeded Antipolo Cobras with 16-5 and 19-2 set victories in the Northern Division, while the No. 1 Kisela Knights clobbered the No. 8 Cordova Dutchess Dagmi Warriors, 14-7 and 15.5-5.5, in the Southern Division.
The win set up Laguna a semis duel with the fourth-seeded Manila Indios Bravos, who survived an Armageddon match against the Rizal Batch Towers.
The other semis pairing in the Northern Division pit the San Juan Predators against the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights, who posted contrasting wins.
San Juan outlasted the Pasig City Knight Pirates, 11.5-9.5 and 13.5-7.5, while Caloocan survived the Armageddon duel against the Cavite Spartans after splitting the first two sets, 14.5-6.5 and 8.5-12.5.
Iloilo, meanwhile, arranged a semis date with fifth seeds Toledo City Trojans, who bested the Zamboanga Sultans, 12.5-8.5 and 12-9. (Kristel Satumbaga)
Pinoy fencers startbids in US NCAA
Filipino fencers Samantha Catantan of Penn State University and Lance Tan of Sacred Heart University are all set for their respective debuts in the US NCAA Fencing Championships starting Friday at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Catantan and Tan made history as the first two Filipinos to earn spots in the main tournament after their impressive campaigns in the regional invitational events the previous weeks.
The first ‘homegrown’ Filipino to play for a Division 1 school in the US NCAA, Catantan was nearly unbeaten in the foil event for the Nittany Lions.
The 20-year-old Tan, on the other hand, is a US-based Filipino fencer who has represented the country in various international competitions, including the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.
He is making his first stint in the NCAA fencing tournament after the event was scrapped in the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic where he was supposed to play after he earned a spot.
Tan is also competing in the foil event. (Waylon Galvez)
