Some of those who have benefited greatly from the advances in science are athletes; from the design of their shoes, equipment or even the monitoring of their training. In sports medicine, the treatment of injuries at the present has improved greatly and injuries we once thought were career-ending are no longer such.

That’s all because of science.

Which is a bit puzzling why some elite athletes are vaccine-hesitant and their stance has led to more people being vaccine-hesitant, too.

Kyrie Irving is one of the famous holdouts and it seems he is ready to risk his career. Irving, who once said he believed the earth is flat, has his own supporters and, of course, that merely adds to the vaccine debate when there shouldn’t be one.

They keep touting that it’s about their choice but if they believe their therapists and doctors when it comes to their injuries, why not have faith in the science behind the vaccine?

Will Irving change his stance? I hope so. Perhaps that will prod other people to change theirs, too.

DONNIE’S COMEBACK. Donnie Nietes is one of my favorite boxers of all time but sadly, his career has stagnated in recent years. Even before the pandemic hit, he was out of the ring for over a year.

Now 39, Nietes has signed with Probellum, a new company founded by former Golden Boy chief executive officer Richard Schaeffer.

Nietes hasn’t lost since 2004 and is 43-1-5 and I hope he finally get the big fights he’s been longing for since he vacated his belt in March 2019 to avoid a rematch with Aston Palicte and chase the other 115-pound champions.

That move backfired since aside from the other champions seeing Nietes as a high-risk low-reward foe, the pandemic hit, forcing boxing to take a hiatus in 2020. He had his comeback in April earning a unanimous decision against Pablo Carrillo. I hope in his next fights, he’d get a chance against the reigning 115-pound champions, Juan Francisco Estrada (WBA), Kazuto Ioka (WBO)—whom he beat on Dec. 31, 2018—or even fellow Pinoy Jerwin Ancajas, the IBF champion.

Father time may not be on Donnie’s side but I’m confident the former ALA boy still has one championship-run left in the tank. At one point, he was the country’s longest reigning world champion and it would be just apt if he gets to end his career with another title run.