"As much as I love boxing, I hate it. And as much as I hate it, I love it." -- Budd Schulberg
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Bad news for Vladimir Putin. Good news for his "favorite", President-elect Donald J. Trump.
We have boxing's version of the puzzling "electoral college", the decrepit system that denied Hillary Clinton the presidency despite besting Trump in the popular votes in the recent election.
We respect the judges' verdict, an identical 114-113 unanimous decision in favor of American Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs), but the night belonged to dethroned Russian world champion Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) in the battle for WBA, WBO, and IBF light heavyweight belts on Saturday night (November 19) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With 84 percent KO in his ledger, the 33-year-old warrior, born in Kopeysk, Russia, should have prevented a "hometown" decision by finishing off the 32-year-old challenger from Oakland in the early rounds.
RESCUE
But orthodox Kovalev allowed Ward to be rescued by the judges when he failed to put him away for good after scoring a second round knockdown which was worth 55 electoral college votes in the presidential race.
But unlike Clinton who gamely accepted her upset defeat, the Russian KO artist could only complain: “It’s the wrong decision. I don’t want to say my opinion. The witnesses are here – they saw it. It’s my job. It was a fight of my life. I am disappointed in the judges’ decision. He got maybe a few rounds, I agree with that. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds the whole fight."
He added: "Of course, I want a rematch and I will kick his ass. I want to show good boxing. I am against here it is the USA and all the judges were from the USA. He is a boxer. It’s a sport, don’t make it politics. It’s a sport and I won the fight!”
'NOT SURPRISED'
Ward, who earned my admiration when he blasted to smithereens the incredible Chad Dawson for the WBC and WBC super-middleweight crowns in 2012, believed he won the bout: “No, I was not surprised when I heard the decision, I don’t’ know where you got that from. I know it was a close fight – the crowd you can hear they thought I won…I have been a champ before I knew it was going to be a tough fight – it was the first time in my career I was dropped."
Ward added: "He did everything I expected him to do. He started to show up as I expected he started to fight like I expected. My coach did a great job…It’s hard for me to call myself great. At the end of the day I am a two-weight division champion. Of course, I would do a rematch. I am not going to negotiate a fight right now I will go home and relax and see what’s next.”
Alexander the Great and Vladimir Putin
"I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me." LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
By Alex P. Vidal
Vladimir Putin's occupation of Crimea reminded us of the Gordian knot cut by Alexander the Great on his way to Asia Minor.
It is told that the people of Phrygia, an ancient country of Asia Minor, were advised by the gods to choose as king the first man they met on the way to Jupiter's temple.
The peasant Gordius passed by, driving a wagon, and hailed as king to his great amazement, he consecrated his wagon to the god Jupiter.
Now Gordius is remembered for the knot by which he fixed his wagon to the temple. So cleverly was it tied that no end could be perceived in the cord, and it came to be predicted that whoever could untie the Gordian knot would win the whole empire of Asia.
PASS
Alexander the Great happened to pass that way in his conquering sweep across Asia Minor. He tried to undo the knot, but was unable to solve the puzzle. Impatiently he drew his sword and slashed the knot in two.
This daring act impressed his soldiers, who already considered Alexander as the future conqueror of Asia. We now speak of any complex problem that can be solved only in a drastic way as a Gordian knot.
Putin's daring capture of Crimea was a classic act and can be compared only to Alexander's conquest of Asia Minor some 350 years before Jesus Christ was born.
We can't do to Sabah what
Vladimir Putin did to Crimea
"If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it." JULIUS CAESAR
By Alex P. Vidal
We own Sabah, there's no doubt about that. But we have no jurisdiction over this large territory located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. Malaysia controls it.
Efforts to convince Malaysia to give Sabah back to Filipinos invoking an age-old edict proved futile. Lives have lost in daring attempts to recapture "The Land Below The Wind".
Past Philippine presidents, including current Pres. Noynoy Aquino, blinked at Malaysia's superior military power.
KGB-turned-Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with a splendid and bloodless blitzkrieg that had the entire world on its feet.
Sochi Winter Games placed Russia on the map for two weeks. Putin sustained the global attention with a swift and unparalleled annexation of Crimea.
CONDEMNED
Putin's act has been widely condemned by the United States, Canada, Britain and other allied countries even as they stepped up pressures on Putin to withdraw the Russian forces now mushrooming in the peninsula located on the northern coast of the Black Sea. No signs for gutsy Putin to backtrack as of press time.
U.S., et al ribbed Putin's military intervention on ground that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous parliamentary republic within Ukraine and is governed by the Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, not of Russia.
Russian-speaking Crimea was ruled by the Russian Empire in the 18th to 20th centuries and is the only remaining bastion of Russia in the unitary Ukraine state.
EMULATE
Philippine leaders can't emulate Putin's act. Demographically, it's impossible for the Filipinos to marshal their forces on the mountainous Malaysian state, which shares a border with the province of North Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south.
We pale in comparison to Malaysia numerically and logistically and our military forces are David to Malaysia's Goliath. Invasion by sea and air would be a neurotic idea unless the purpose is hara kiri.
With weakling leaders and a government not inclined to wage war beyond diplomatic means, the Philippines is the one being slowly sliced down and reduced to smithereens by bullies like China and Malaysia. If we can't protect our own islets and territorial waters from Chinese invaders, we can't reclaim our vast islands now in the stronghold of our hooligan neighbors in Asia.
Ukraine is Russia's border to the east and rolling down to Crimea Putin's deadliest weaponry that included the world's strongest nuclear bomb was a relative ease.
CAPTURE
In the blink of an eye, Russia captured Crimea without any bloodshed. No single life was wasted in the grand attack. A walk in the park, to say the least.
Never mind that in the eyes of the world, Putin is rascal. Russia has shown that its leader is hell-bent to protect Russian interests and citizens as the primary reason why it invaded Ukraine.
As long as Sabah is under Malaysia, we can't throw the books on Malaysian thugs who exploit, abuse and harass our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Kota Kinabalu and its environs. We watch helplessly as Malaysian authorities round up and deport overstaying Filipinos who are stripped of basic rights and subjected to indignities in the land that actually belong to them.
