Pacquiao and his belief in good luck charms
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 10 Apr 2007
Since I was a kid growing up in the Philippines I have always heard of folks who firmly believe in good luck charms. Manny Pacquiao is no different from all those folks.
My lovely wife will never step in a casino in Las Vegas or even to the local Indian-run casinos that proliferate in the Southern California area without her “lucky Irish coin.” For the record, let me say that she has never hit the proverbial “big one” in any of the casinos, but she still believes that someday, her lucky Irish coin will help her do it.
Even my Mexican-bred office manager has her own “Encanto de Suerte” or a “Buena suerte” in her wallet, a two dollar bill. “It assures me lots of good luck and I never ever run out of money,“ she said.
At the last sparring day of Pacquiao at the Wildcard Gym, I noticed that Pacquiao was wearing the very first mouth guard I made for him years ago. That mouth guard was the only quad-colored mouth guard I ever made.
Most of the mouth guards we make in our office are single, double or tri-colored. We have never made another quad-colored one since Pacquiao’s because of the difficulty in blending the materials. A three colored one is hard enough to make what more one with four colors.
I approached Nonoy Neri at the ring apron and asked why Manny was using the old mouth guard when I just made him one, gorgeous blue and yellow as per his request. Nonoy smiled at me and said: “Tanugin mo si Buboy siya ang naka-kaalam” (Ask Buboy, he knows why).
After the sparring session, I went to Buboy and asked why Manny was wearing the old mouth guard.
Manny Pacquiao's lucky charm: The first quad-color mouthguard made for him by Dr. Ed de la Vega.
Buboy put his fore finger over his lips as though asking me not to be so loud and said. “Si Manny mapaniwala sa mga bagay na nagbibigay nang suerte. Yung kauna-unahan na ginawa mo, sa paki-ramdam niya ay mapag bibigay nang suerte sa kanya, kaya yun uli ang gagamitin niya sa laban.”
(Manny believes in good luck charms. He believes the very first mouth guard you made for him brings him the good luck, so he will use again it for the actual fight”.)
Buboy’s statement blew me away! It is so humbling to know that the champ himself believes that the mouth guard I made for him brings the good luck in his fights. Nothing can be a better moral booster for a humble dentist like myself!
Then I asked Buboy why Manny wanted a new mouth guard before every fight. “Ah, yun ang gamit niya sa practice para di madaling masira yun mas ma-suerte na mouthguard” ( He wants and uses a new mouth guard for his practice sessions so as not to accelerate the deterioration of the one that brings him the good luck).
With that I said to Buboy: “Sabihin mo kay Manny, kung ganoon pala, kahit ilan ang gusto niyang pang-practice igagawa ko siya. (“Tell Manny will be a pleasure for me to make as many as he wants for his practice sessions, if indeed that is case.”).
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