ALLAN THE MAN

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel forward Japeth Aguilar has been making believers out of people all conference long.

Count his Gilas Pilipinas teammate and San Mig Super Coffee Mixers star Marc Pingris among them.

“Hindi naman siya ganyan dati. Mga past game niya before, struggle. Ngayon, laging best player. Parang NBA player eh. Yun na yata yung sinasabi nila,” he said.

THE fighter they call the 'Russian Rocky' aims to lock horns with his old sparring partner Manny Pacquiao in April. Ruslan Provodnikov has had a storming rise through the rankings and claimed the WBO light welterweight title in October.

He beat Mike Alvarado in Colorado and is now hoping to challenge eight division world champion Pacquiao.

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao said it would be impossible for him to give in to Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s demand for him to leave Top Rank and seal a deal for their proposed superfight.

“Floyd has also been saying, he will only fight me if I separate from Top Rank and Bob Arum, imposible ‘yun kasi ang kontrata ko valid hanggang ngayong taon na ito pa. So how ? (That’s impossible because my contract is still valid this year)” Pacquiao said in an interview with Philboxing’s Eddie Alinea.

Except for a few hardcore basketball fans online, few Filipinos have heard the name Christian Standhardinger.
But if he keeps up his performance in the US NCAA, he may not be unknown for long in this basketball-crazy nation.

The 24-year-old Filipino-German forward has emerged as a star for University of Hawaii, the same school that produced Meralco Bolts wingman Jared Dillinger.

Galera said that just like any Filipino fight fan, he is thrilled about the prospect of seeing a Filipino MMA strutting his wares in the UFC.

“I think everyone is as excited as I am,” he said in UFC.com. “I think they can’t wait to see what we Filipinos can bring into the Octagon.”i

Galera, who was born in California but grew up in Baguio City, will be making his mark as the first Philippine-based fighter ever to fight in the UFC.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes said recently he’s open to make changes in the national team lineup. He declined to suggest names to invite to the pool in deference to the PBA Board of Governors whose clearance is required before any player is drafted.

The difficulty that Reyes faces is the limited training period before Gilas leaves to compete at the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14. It will only be between two to four weeks as the national team awaits the finish of the PBA season. 

GILAS coach Chot Reyes is very much aware of the clamor in cyberspace to have Barangay Ginebra 'Twin Towers' Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter in the team bound for the Fiba World Cup in Spain.

“Yes, I can see the messages of the fans. I can read it," the Gilas coach, a popular figure on Twitter with over 81,000 followers, told Spin. "They message me on different social networking sites."