The Pacman is in Town for Honors and R&R
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Jun 2007
LOS ANGELES -- Manny”Pacman” Pacquiao, the Filipino boxing icon who recently completed his venture in Philippine politics is in town.
The Pacman will be at ringside on Saturday, June 9th at the famed Madison Square Gardens in New York City to provide moral support for his younger brother, Bobby.
Bobby Pacquiao (27-12-3, 12KO) will tangle with Mexico’s Humberto Soto (41-5-2, 25KO) in a career defining fight. An unsuccessful bid against Soto will put a big damper on Bobby’s career, but a victory, albeit unexpected by many pundits will create a giant ripple on the boxing world.
First, it will eliminate Soto from the list of wannabe's who are lining up to fight the Pacman in search for big pay days. Second, it will force Bob Arum to look somewhere else to find a suitable opponent for the Pacman. It would not be too far fetch to think that he may even look at the Golden Boy fighters to find a “big money fighter.” Third, a proposed WBC-arranged fight between Soto and JM Marquez in case the Marquez-Pacman fight is not doable, will also vanish in thin air.
Arum, according to some news speculations arranged the BobPac-Soto fight expecting the younger Pacquiao to be beaten badly by Soto thus creating a “revenge” angle when he pits Soto against the Pacman.
On June 8th the Pacman is scheduled to receive the Edward J. Neil Trophy as “Fighter of the Year Award” from the Boxing Writers of America during that group’s 82nd Annual Awards Dinner at the famous Copacabana in New York. Presenting the distinguished award to the Pacman will be Joe Calzaghe of Great Britain, the WBO and IBF super-middleweight champion. Calzaghe is presently the longest reigning world champion in any division.
The Pacman is accompanied on this trip by his wife Jinky and sons, Emmanuel and Mike and his ever trusted sidekick and trainer, Buboy Fernandez. The youngest, Mary Divine Grace who is too little to appreciate the offerings of the Magic Kingdom in Florida stayed at home in Gen San. The family will spend some time at that famous Disneyland resort for a few precious moments together and catch up with the family-time lost during the months when he was in training for the Solis fight and the election campaign.
Pacman’s arrival was not widely announced as his previous trips to LA. Perhaps, he wanted it to be a quiet one. Reports from some reliable sources indicated that the atmosphere was quite subdued and the Pacman was quiet and in a very serious mood.
With that, as the veritable scribe, Hermie Rivera has written, “woe to the next Pacman foe.” Only a fool will put any money on Pacman’s next foe, regardless of who he is. Pacman reportedly appears to be in a fighting mood and maybe looking for someone to vent his frustrations on.
The Pacman stayed only overnight in Los Angeles before proceeding east for his R and R and the awards night in New York.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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