INSIDE SPORTS: ONLY PACQUIAO CAN BEAT PACQUIAO
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 04 Sep 2007
Our esteemed friend, WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud told us before we left for Cebu a few days ago to chronicle the training of Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao for a Viva Sports TV Special on his much-awaited rematch with legendary Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera, that the only person who could beat Pacquiao is Pacquiao himself.
It’s a view shared by many who follow his exploits with a passion and those of us who have known him since he first fought in Manila on the weekly boxing show “Blow by Blow” which nurtured his career and covered his fights all the way up to the November 2003 clash with Barrera in San Antonio, Texas.
We were indeed impressed when we watched him run up the steep and sometimes winding road beside the picturesque golf course at the Alta Vista subdivision, leaving brother Bobby Pacquiao biting the dust and having to climb aboard a media van and travel in its comfort much of the way .
In the afternoon he worked out at the gym of Rex “:Wakee” Salud which mercifully was free of spectators who had crowded the small venue earlier in the week and drove celebrated trainer Freddie Roach to threaten to pack up and go home unless Salud enforced tight security. Roach was especially concerned about miscellaneous individuals who clandestinely shot videos of Manny sparring, which Roach feared could end up on the internet or in the hands of the Barrera camp and undermine the game-plan being worked out.
Pacquiao bordered on the awesome. With his charming wife Jinkee along with their little daughter Mary Divine Grace watching in childlike awe Manny went eleven rounds non-stop on the punch mitts without a break and even a sip of water. It lasted some 40 minutes until Roach’s solid upper arms felt the pain of Pacquiao’s devastating power.
The next morning Pacquiao ran on the flat land of the IT park in front of the Waterfront Hotel despite feeling a little under the weather only for us to learn a short while later that Dr. Hans Potot had to be called to Manny’s hotel suite to check on him since he was running a fever, had a headache and body malaise. It wasn’t good and Roach, very correctly, called off the planned sparring session with Mexicans David Rodela and Raymund Beltran who had earlier also been downed by the flu virus.
Dr. Potot made it absolutely clear that Pacquiao needed rest, had to take plenty of liquids and keep people he comes into contact with at the barest minimum. The doctor and Roach also shot down plans for Pacquiao to fly to Manila on a private plane to appear on a GMA entertainment show on Sunday. The only thing the doctor okayed was a walk in the vicinity of the hotel. Roach waited for a call from Pacquiao’s staff but by 10:00 a.m. his phone hadn’t rung. When we checked with Roach he said Pacquiao was still sleeping.
That’s what he thought! Pacquiao apparently sneaked out of the hotel to play a game of basketball against the Cebu media. When we relayed the news to Roach he was obviously concerned and went up to talk to Manny right away. Roach told us later that Pacquiao said he merely “ran up and down the court.” Obviously in a basketball game you have to run up and down the court. Funny thing of course was that apparently running up and down the court Pacquiao managed to score 30 points! Besides, there were so many people around him which is what Dr. Potot cautioned against.
This is where the fans, the hangers-on and the freeloaders must do the right thing by Manny who is in many respects a national treasure. They must stay away from him, let him focus on the task ahead without mindless distractions. The comedians, basketball players, politicians and miscellaneous characters should leave Manny alone while our colleagues in the Cebu media should set the example and refuse to play baskeball with him because if he should get injured or suffer a relapse of the flu the entire nation will pounce on all of you.
Its obvious that nobody can tell Pacquiao what to do which, with all that is going on, reinforces our collective fears that only Pacquiao can beat Pacquiao and he may be on the way to doing just that. We pray fervently that it wont happen but if it does – God forbid - the pride and hope of the people of this nation will be shattered and they will all weep like never before. Don’t let them cry Manny!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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