Philippine Showbiz Today Vol 12 No 22 | Page 22

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Philippine Showbiz Today
Basketball

Alvin Patrimonio

November October 22 -- November December 7 ,, 2017
SPORTS
He loved chess and still do . Alvin Patrimonio , in fact , played the game that requires mental toughness while at the Manila Science High School
Influenced by his father , the late Angel Patrimonio , a Jose Rizal College NCAA champion team stalwart during his playing days , and because of his height and built , Alvin was lured to playing basketball where he became as one of the greatest to have played the game this shore .
“ I really love chess and intended to make the sport a career . “ I also played basketball since I was 10 years old , pero mas gusto ko ang chess kasi mas nagagamit ang utak , “ Alvin told this writer in an interview at the height of his professional career that earned for him four PBA MVPs , among others .
“ I wanted to emulate kasi my idols Bobby Fischer and , of course , our own Eugene Torre ,” Patrimonio added . I wanted to become a National Master , International Master and Grand Master like them ,” he said with a glitter in his eyes .
“ At saka gusto kong talunin ang Lolo ko sa mother sa side ko . Lagi ko siyang kalaro halow arawaraw , pero hindi ko matalo-talo . Ang galing nya ,” he said referring to Lolo Alberto ( Vergara ) father of his mother Ophelia .
And the rest is history , as they say .
Alvin Vergara Patrimonio , born November 17 , 1966 in Manila , started his basketball career playing for the then Mapúa
IBF superfly king Jerwin Ancajas made a courtesy call to Senator Manny Pacquiao as Ancajas upon his arrival in Manila after he successfully defended his title Saturday in Belfast , Northern Ireland by dismantling his Irish challenger Jamie Conlan in six rounds .
Ancajas , who has now successfully defended his title three times after winning it from McJoe Arroyo last year , fights under Pacquiao ’ s MP Promotions .
EXCEPT for a point deduction in the fifth round , Jerwin Ancajas of the Philippines had a troublefree third defense of his IBF super flyweight ( 115 lbs ) crown in Belfast , Ireland on Sunday .
Ancajas , 25 , turned what had been predicted to be an exciting match into a punching picnic .
Ironically , there was not a bit of candy sweetness behind the brutal , bloody stoppage .
Ancajas dished out poison ,
Institute of Technology in pursuit a degree in Civil Engineering and saw action for the MIT Cardinals from 1983 to 1986 . He failed to win a championship for the Cardinals but instead gifted himself with the NCAA Most Valuable Player awards back-toback in 1985 and 1986 .
The matinee idollooking , soft-spoken Patrimonio was a mainstay of the
YCO Painters in the Philippine Basketball League ( now the PBA D-League ) before moving to RFM-Swifts the Elizalde franchise was disbanded after winning two championships in three conferences from 1986-87 .
Patrimonio had a two-conference stint with the Swift Hotdogs and won a title before joining the PBA in the middle of the 1988 season .
The 6-foot-3 power forward spent his entire 17-pro season with the Purefoods franchise and won five championships besides establishing several PBA records including most consecutive games played ( 596 ); third most points scored in history ( 15,091 ); fourth most rebounds in history ( 6,000 +) and four MVP awards in a tie with his idol Ramon Fernandez and June Mar Fajardo .
He , too , is the second player outside of Bogs Adornado to win back-to-back MVP awards he fashioned out in 1993 and 1994 , the second player to win three Best Player of the Conference award after Vergel Meneses . He also shares the distinction of having played the most Asian Games ( 4 ) with 1990 PBA MVP Allan Caidic .
Before his no . 6 jersey was retired on the occasion of his 38th birthday in 2004 , Alvin was a 10-time PBA Mythical First Team from 1989 – 1994 , 1996 – 1998 ;
Mythical Second Team in 1995 ; All-Star Game MVP ( 1991 ); 12-time All-Star ( 1989-1993 , 1995-2001 ); PBA ’ s 25 Greatest Players ; PBA ’ s 40 Greatest Players .
Patrimonio was , too , a member of the 1990 Robert Jaworski-coached all-PBA national Asian Games five that won the silver medal for the first time since the Philippines lost the Asiad title in 1966 .
In the 1998 Asian Games , he was part of an all-PBA Philippine national team also known as the Philippine Centennial Team . The team was coached by Tim Cone . That team also won the 1998 William Jones Cup after beating Chinese Taipei in the championship game , 82-72 .
After only three year in the pro-ranks , Patrimonio signed a mega-buck five-year 25.3- million peso deal ( roughly P500,000 a month ) with Purefoods making him the highest paid ever player in Philippine basketball ’ s history .
Patrimonio was inducted to the PBA Hall of Fame in 2011 . Other honorees for the class of 2011 were Billy Ray Bates , Freddie Hubalde , Tommy Manotoc , Mariano Yenko , Tito Eduque and Bobong Velez . They were the fourth group of individuals that was honored by the league .
Parimonio has three children with wife Cindy – Angelo , Christine and Clarice and one adopted child Asher Angel . Christine and Clarice followed in their father ’ s athletic career both being topnotch tennis players . ●

Ancajas makes courtesy call on Sen . Pacquiao

dropping gutsy Jamie Conlan with a phantom left shot around the midsection in the first round . Conlan got up and tried to fight on . He was floored again in the third , fourth and sixth round , before the referee finally waved off the one-sided contest .
The third successful title defense was the most dominant performance by Ancajas , since dethroning McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico in Taguig City last year .
With the startling victory before amazed Irish fans , handlers of the new Filipino boxing star swore Ancajas was now ready to move full-blast onto the world prizefight stage .
There was an initial plan to take the Ancajas act to the United States . At least three reigning world light flyweight champions — in the WBO , WBC and WBA — were next mentioned as possible Ancajas opponents .
Ancajas reportedly earned
less than $ 1000 in taking the IBF light flyweight crown from his favored Puerto Rican foe last year . His purse against the previously unbeaten Conlan was pegged at $ 80,000 .
Ancajas , 28 wins , one loss , one draw with 19 KOs , is now listed as the main fighter of the Manny Pacquiao Promotions .
In fact , not a few experts have started saying Ancajas , a native of Davao del Norte who fights out of Cavite , has the makings of a new Pacquiao .
Meanwhile , one report yesterday said Ancajas could be ordered to make a mandatory defense of his IBF crown against compatriot Jonas Sultan of the ALA Stable , who moved up to No . 1 contender following an upset win over former world titlist Johnriel Casamero .
There are two other reigning Filipino world boxing champions , namely Donnie Nietes , IBF flyweight champion , and Milan Melindo , IBF light flyweight titleholder . ● - Photo by Wendell Alinea / OSMP ; R . Trinidad , philboxing . com