He did it again! Manny Pacquiao, poor boy from General Santos, who started his boxing career at age 16, and had prior to that worked in construction and even sold flowers in front of the church, was destined to be a living hero and model for many young men aspiring to rise from poverty to fame and fortune. And to his adoring fans he is simply "Ang Pambansang Kamao" (literally, "the national fist") or the People’s Champ. His popular nickname is PacMan, and more recently, "The Mexecutioner."
As usual, though a tyro on sports, I nonetheless feel moved to express my own admiration for this man, who has worked so hard to achieve his present status as the best "pound-for-pound" fighter (I’m afraid I don’t know what that means), bringing honor to his country and his people. Because my husband is such a boxing fan, hooked as he is to Solar Sports on TV, I have been watching ring bouts, but only of Manny Pacquiao. I still think it is an extremely bloody sport, not too far removed from the gladiators of Roman times, and so I eschew all other fights.
One thing I like about this young man is that he doesn’t boast about his prowess, nor does he resort to name-calling or putdowns of his opponents. While I honestly know so little about the rules of the game, I am able to see that he is a clean fighter, no dirty tricks such as head butts. In this most recent fight where he trounced Mexican-American Oscar de La Hoya, prior to the famed event, the latter made some malicious digs. Manny was never uncharitable, and even when he had won the fight, he had the humility to say, "You’re still my idol." And indeed, during that fight, it was clear that he was giving De La Hoya a lot of chances to recover...like moving away after having cornered the other guy, when he could just as easily pummeled him some more and won by a real knockout.
Manny’s boxing career began at age 16, and according to a recent interview written up in the December issue of Reader’s Digest (whose cover he graced), he actually fibbed about his age in order to be allowed to fight. Since 1995, he has fought 53 fights, winning 48 of them and losing only three. His first big break came on June 23, 2001, when he fought against IBF super bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo in Las Vegas, and winning the fight to become the new champion.
But I think his rise to fame began when he started fighting and winning against reigning boxing champions who were Mexican (which thus eventually led to his being called "Mexecutioner," absolutely confirmed by his crushing of De La Hoya, who probably expected to remove that title from him!), such as Barrera, Marquez, and Morales. Receiving expert training from Freddie Roach, he improved his speed and mental preparation. His first fight against Marco Antonio Barrera was said to have defined his career. Moving up in weight to the featherweight division, he defeated Barrera via a TKO in the 11th round. Although this fight was not recognized as a title fight by any of the sanctioning bodies, Pacquiao was recognized as a world champion by Ring Magazine after his victory, and he held that title until relinquishing it in 2005.
After Barrera, Pacquiao’s next Mexican opponent was Juan Manuel Marquez, then holder of the World Boxing Association (WBA) AND International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight titles. The fight was held at the MGM Grand, and it ended in a controversial draw, but one of the judges later admitted to making an error in the scorecards. He proved his ascendancy over Marquez in a rematch on March 15, 2008, which he won after knocking Marquez down in the third round. By then, he had become the first Filipino to win three world titles in three different weight divisions flyweight, super bantamweight, and super featherweight.
The next Mexican legend he fought was Erik Morales, whom he fought for the first time in the super featherweight division and to whom he lost. However, in a much-anticipated rematch on Jan. 22, 2006, he defeated Morales via a 10th round KO in Las Vegas. They fought for a third time on November 18, 2006, in Las Vegas again, with Pacquiao definitively trouncing Morales via a third-round knockout. At the end of 2006, he was named by both HBO andRing Magazine as the fighter of the year, with HBO also naming him as the most exciting fighter of the year. Other Mexicans gobbled up by the unrelenting Pacman were Jorge Solis, Oscar Larios, and Hector Velasquez.
What I admire most in Manny is his simple religious faith. Before every fight, he attends Mass, and just before he begins to fight, he kneels at his corner, bows his head, and prays. He has a rosary around his neck, which of course has to be removed when he is actually boxing, but which is the first thing he puts on again at the end of the fight as he kneels once again to thank God. Reports say that his mother says the rosary continuously during his fights, so I can only conclude that Manny received his simple piety from his mother. And of course, we know that the Lord is most especially vulnerable to a mother’s prayers!
It had been noted that during all of Pacquiao’s fights, crime was virtually nil. Even the Mindanao insurgency was put on hold. The only other time that I recall that there were no reported crimes was when the good Holy Father, Pope John Paul II came to visit the Philippines. People say that Manny Pacquiao is a unifying force for our beleaguered nation. Unfortunately, some people would also like to take advantage of his popularity by inveigling him into politics, preying on his generosity and genuine desire to help the poor. He suffered a defeat and lost a lot of money when he succumbed to the temptation to run for a political office ... a lot of people actually prayed for his defeat so that he would remain in boxing.
As an unmitigated fan, if I had my druthers, I’d wish that Manny should steer clear of politics. This is a game for which he is so unprepared, so innocent and ingenuous. If he must share his blessings, for which he unabashedly thanks God, and his generosity knows no bounds, then he should do so via other means, such as putting up foundations for education, health, and similar activities.But please, never, never in the morass of Philippine politics!
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