Alex Pagulayan crawled out of his personal slump right on the very same day he pronounced his patriotism.

Pagulayan, whether he is playing under the flag of Canada or Philippines, zoomed to the round of 64 just the same, blanking Eritrea’s Hamza Mohammed Saeed Ali, 9-0, on a day of ironies in the 2007 World Pool Championship (WPC) yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Fil-Canadian Pagulayan put on a show under the “winner break format,” never giving Saeed Ali any chance to score in a lopsided contest which he complemented with a 9-6 trouncing of Austria’s Martin Kempter.

That enabled Pagulayan to join other noted Filipino cue artists like Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Ramil Gallego and Lee Van Corteza in the next phase of this prestigious annual tourney where the champion stands to receive $100,000 out of the total $400,000 cash prizes at stake.

By Joshua "Travz" Travilla: The anticipated rematch between Marco Antonio Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs) "The Baby Face Assassin" of Mexico and Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) from the Philippines, will make the world stop in their respective countries when they collide for the WBC international super featherweight boxing championship this coming October 6, 2007 at Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Barrera, 33, a native from Mexico City, will be facing another fight of his life when he battles an opponent whom he was annihilated by in a 11th Round TKO loss at Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas in November 15, 2003. Strange as it may seem now, many critics considered Pacquiao to be a as a heavy underdog at the time. The Baby Face Assassin would be able to experience once again a sizzling bout as expected.

SACRAMENTO -- Veteran Gerry Peñalosa was a revelation, but rising Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista was a letdown in the Philippines’ spectacular victory over Mexico in the 2007 Boxing World Cup Sunday at the Arco Arena here.

Peñalosa, the former World Boxing Council (WBC) super-flyweight king, seized the World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title from champion Jhonny Gonzales with a sensational 7th round knockout.

The Philippines scored a 5-1 victory over Mexico to clinch the $500,000 World Cup boxing showdown at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.

Diosdado Gabi, Michael Domingo, AJ “Bazooka” Banal, Z “The Dream” Gorres and Gerry Peñalosa literally ruled their respective opponents with iron fists to the delight of flag-waving Filipino fans that had come to witness the dominance.

But the day turned sour, though, for the previously undefeated Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista who was knocked down right in the first round by Daniel Ponce de Leon, who avoided a shutout for the Mexican side.

Peñalosa produced the most noteworthy victory as he knocked down a heavily-favored Jhonny Gonzales with a one-punch during the seventh round, to clinch the WBO bantamweight title.

Peñalosa, a former WBC super flyweight champion, was behind in the scorecards of all three judges, until he caught the fiercely-looking Mexican with a solid punch that all but settled the issue. A rematch is said to be in the offing between Penalosa and De Leon.

TOKUSHIMA — San Miguel-Pilipinas completed a three-game sweep of its consolation round group Thursday, breezing past Kuwait, 89-58, to arrange a return match with dethroned China for 9th place Saturday in the 24th Fiba-Asia Championship at the ASTY Tokushima Gym.

Kelly Williams and Jimmy Alapag returned to the active roster to play 24 and 14 minutes, respectively, signaling their readiness for the battle ahead.

Mark Caguioa, who hyper-extended his right shoulder in the game with Jordan Monday, sat out the game, however, and is unlikely to suit up for the return bout with the Chinese, who bowed to the Nationals, 79-74, Sunday.

“I would love to go after them again,” said national coach Chot Reyes, referring to the upcoming encounter with China, the two teams’ last game in the tournament where they shared the same fate.