EXCLUSIVE
Pacquiao's Kindness is His New Killer Punch (Part Two of Many Parts)
By Winchell Campos
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 07 Jul 2017
SARANGANI--Manny Pacquiao, recently bloodied by head-butts, elbows, neck choke holds and a referee who will let go all the illegal and dirty moves in the ring to give local boy Brisbane's Jeff Horn an easy ride to victory, has not lost the support of millions of fans.
Reminiscent of his much-maligned and controversial loss to Timothy Bradley Jr. five years ago, Pacquiao has knocked out opponents, conspirators and plotters even without lifting a finger.
His new weapon: KINDNESS.
Even Sun Tzu, the Chinese military general and author of "Art of War" can not hold a candle to Pacquiao. Armed only with compassion and love even to those who have persecuted him, the beloved Philippine senator has displayed statesmanship to the highest levels.
Despite knowing that he landed more telling blows as supported by statistics and CompuBox, Pacquiao, 38, kept his cool, even after the loss. "Manny is a real gentleman," said Tony Fernandes, owner of Air Asia, a huge supporter of Pacquiao, who flew him on a spacious A-330 jet from General Santos and back.
Pacquiao, a devout Christian, has been practicing what he preaches. He hopes to convert as many sinners to repentance and renewal.
Recently, Pacquiao's promoter Robert "Bob" Arum, the person who was supposed to make sure that his ward will get all the protective assurance needed to win, was the same guy who pushed for an insulting "30-20-50" offer to the Filipino.
Arum, ageing at 85 years old, previously gambled that Pacquiao would accept a miniscule 30 percent share from the Australia fight. Arum has also proposed to grant himself a 20 percent share while Duco Promotions gets the rest of the 50 percent, a proposition which backfired in his face because Pacquiao rejected it.
Moreso, Arum was set to co-promote Horn in his future fights, whether he won or lost to Pacquiao and will still rake in a share in his future fights.
Arum's hand was forced as he acceded to a change in the offer after Pacquiao ordered his wards to look for a fight somewhere else, out of disgust.
Pacquiao knew that Arum was playing both sides: The Top Rank Promotions head was very nice to Horn during the press conference and doubly sweet to Pacquiao when he was being stitched up for incurring two cuts on both right and left sides of the head. Still, Pacquiao kept mum and acted like he didn't know Arum was two-timing him and Horn.
When Waleska Roldan, Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan's inexplicable scores handed the WBO welterweight championship belt on a silver platter to Horn in what many dubbed as the "Robbery in Brisbane," even Teddy Atlas, a Pacquiao "hater," decried the decision as indicative of corruption in the halls of promoters and managers of boxing.
Atlas was at ringside when he told the horned bull Horn to his face that he did not deserve, much more win the championship in his opinion. Horn would charge forward with his head butting Pacquiao's face all night. An obscure referee from Minnesota, Mark Nelson, would proceed to indicate that he did not see head butts, thus indicating that the two wounds in the head of Pacquiao were incurred from legal punches.
Manny Pacquiao enjoys a few days in his hideaway resort in Sarangani province together with his wife Jinkee and son Israel.
Manny Pacquiao is not going to shy away from a group of people who waited to see their hero after waiting for hours just to shake his hands.
In an unprecedented move, World Boxing Organization honcho Francisco "Paco" Varcarcel immediately ordered a review of the fight which was booed around the world, as celebrities fired away at will on Twitter, decrying the outcome. Nothing less than a whitewash is expected soon.
It is deja vu for Pacquiao who is feeling the same as when he dominated Bradley in almost almost all rounds but still lost in a decision in June 9, 2012. Coincidentally, Pacquiao's contract with Arum was about to expire. His contract with Arum also expired during the Horn fight despite futile claims by Arum that he still has a foothold until 2018.
Pacquiao is the only eight-division champion of boxing and is still regarded by many as one of the best fighters around, pound-for-pound, despite being in the twilight of his career at 38 years old. Despite his age, Pacquiao just recently demolished a future Top Rank cash cow in Jessie Vargas, the young, good-looking, and erstwhile undefeated Mexican-American.
Pacquiao also ended all doubt by finally beating and ending fellow Top Rank fighter Bradley's hopes.
"Just pray for those people who persecute you," said Pacquiao, who is taking his sweet time to let the wounds of battle heal.
(To be continued)
Winchell Campos is the official biographer of Manny Pacquiao. He is authoring "Pacquiao," the real-life story of the only eight-weight division boxing champion.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Winchell Campos.
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