Bleacher Talk: American Idol & Manny Pacquiao
By Rico Navarro
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 29 Mar 2008
Going over the numerous post-fight commentaries about Manny Pacquiao?s fight against Juan Manuel Marquez and catching American Idol on TV have become a perfect combination that this corner couldn?t help but fuse in together for fun and to provide a little spice to Pacquiao?s latest conquest.
Don?t worry. I?m not talking about Pacquiao?s chances of repeating a William Hung on American Idol. But just for once, wouldn?t it be interesting if we asked American Idol?s judges to make an assessment on Pacman?s latest fight? With the show?s permission, I?d like to borrow their judges only for today. We see a lot of Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell these days, and since the Pacman loves to sing, let?s go ahead and ask them for their thoughts.
If Pacquiao?s latest fight were part of the show, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell would both be critical of his latest performance, but won?t necessarily be calling him a total failure. Paula will give her million-dollar wink+smile, and say nothing bad at all.
Randy will say something like: Yo. Check it out. Check it out. Manny, you did alright man. But I?ll have to say that this wasn?t your best performance. The knockdown was great, but you kinda lost it in the middle rounds. But in the endgame, you recovered well enough to score the win. Not your best, but good enough. You?ve got to be careful at this stage of the contest since all eyes are on you man. You?ve got to bring back the real Pacman in you. Bring it back man. Bring it back.
Next up is Paula who will sweeten everything. You were wonderful tonight Manny. You showed everyone how much power you have in your hands and why you?re the people?s champ. You?re a knock-out Pacman! (Wink again)
Simon will be honest to say that he was expecting Pacquiao to win by knock-out as he almost always does. ?I didn?t see the real Pacman on top of the ring tonight Manny. You were lucky to win by the skin of your teeth. Where is the Pacman that we saw against Morales and Pacquiao-Barrera 1? Have you buried him? I was expecting to see a bloody fight with Marquez flat on the canvass. But it didn?t happen, did it? Over-all, you were a mere shadow of the real Pacman that we all know.?
And as he always does, Ryan Seacrest will stand beside Pacquiao and announce that American Idol has voted and he won by split decision.
If you look deeper into all the Pacman reviews in the press, you?ll see that a lot of these sound like the three different judges on American Idol. That?s how mixed, diverse and varied these are, coming from different personalities.
Randy and Simon are more critical and discriminating at this stage of the competition where the show is now down to the last nine and the fans (not the judges) have the final say on who won?t make it to the following week. Paula will always be her sweet and safe self, and will never put anybody down. She has her ways of spotting only the positive in every singer and making the negative sound not so bad at all.
Randy Jackson?s comments are a good gauge to see if a contestant has done well or not. These should then be taken beside those of Simon to check for major differences. Simon will always be Simon and like him or not, he?s actually good for both the show and the contestants. The more sincere he is, the better. The truth may hurt but that?s just the way it should be. If Simon were a Pinoy, he?ll surely say, ?Sorry. Walang personalan. Trabaho lang.?
The boxing press is just as diverse as American Idol?s judges row. You?ll hear from the Simon Cowell?s who thought that Pacquiao lost the fight and doesn?t look like the Pacman of old. You?ll also have the Paula Abdul judges who?ll all be praises for the Pacman and won?t even see the mistakes that he committed. And many will also be both critical and supportive as Randy Jackson, balancing the positives with the negatives, but putting an emphasis on what should be done to stay in the contest all the way to the finals.
In the end, Pacquiao might have done enough to win, but he?ll also have to realize that this wasn?t his best performance on top of the ring. If he?s moving up in weight to face David Diaz, Joel Casamayor, Michael Katsidis, Juan Diaz and JMM in a rematch, he shouldn?t use his performance against Marquez as a yardstick for a sure win.
And as Randy Jackson might say, ?Bring it back man, bring it back!?
**
Time-out: Happy birthday to Coach Danny Duran, a.k.a. ?DanDurs?! >> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rico Navarro.
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