ONLY PACQUIAO CAN PULL IT OFF
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 15 Nov 2010
Coming off what trainer Freddie Roach described as the worst training camp they ever had, Manny Pacquiao gave a performance so dominant against a man almost twenty pounds heavier that I hate to imagine what would happen to his opponents if the Pacman trained like a Shaolin monk.
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For the second straight year, Pacquiao held his fight preparations in Baguio City during the Philippine typhoon season. He continued to play pick up basketball games and participated in a ?fun run? for the Pasig River . When his training camp moved to L.A. , he appeared on ?Jimmy Kimmel Live? for the third time and sang a duet with popular comedian Will Ferell. He dipped into the U.S. political scene by endorsing Democrats Jerry Brown and Harry Reid. Pacquiao's band mates told this writer in Baguio last October that they were practicing for a concert scheduled after the Margarito fight in Lake Tahoe. No boxer has ever been that confident.
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He manages to gain strength from the chaos around him. His rise in Philippine politics became part of that chaos. He will turn 32 years old next month and boxing observers are wondering if his multitasking will eventually take its toll. But Pacquiao still managed to pull it off.
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There were objections to this fight taking place mainly due to moral grounds. There were boxing scribes who thought Antonio Margarito should have been banned for life due to the hand wraps controversy. There are also those who have voiced their opinions on the catch weight issue. But the negative views get drowned by the deluge of media hysteria and fanatical support that has become customary during his fights.
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It is also worth mentioning that Margarito prior to his suspension was on the list of boxers labeled as ?AVOIDED BY FLOYD MAYWEATHER?.
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I?m sure boxing historians will be debating on the merits and demerits of the catchweight issue in the decades to come. There are those who compare his accomplish to Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong; citing how Robinson fought heavier opponents as a middleweight. Historians point out that Robinson never went to the full middleweight limit of 160 pounds, choosing instead to stay around the mid-150s..
But against Margarito, the Pacman fought as an undersized welterweight going for a junior middleweight title. The gamble paid off. Speed once again trumped size and it seems only Pacquiao can pull this off; at least in this century.
Pacquiao is now at a point in his career wherein he places himself in harm?s way by fighting bigger men. He has won an unprecedented eighth world title in as many weight divisions. Pundits point out that Armstrong?s three titles were held simultaneously in an era when world titles were undisputed and there were fewer weight divisions. But it is not Manny?s fault that he is fighting in an era of multiple sanctioning bodies.
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We will have to accept the fact that there is only one Robinson, only one Armstrong and only one Pacquiao.
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We have attached so many adjectives and superlatives to the man. He is an extraordinary boxer who comes only once in a generation. He also has his well publicized extra curricular activities. But Pacquiao has reached a point where any negative publicity or perceived wrongs just bounce off him.
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We tend to forget that he is also just a man enjoying his unexpected and unprecedented success.
Pacquiao's charisma has reached the Philippine legislature. He gets more face time on television compared to his more senior colleagues in Congress. Whether he can transform into an instrument for social change remains to be seen. Muhammad Ali made a big social and political impact by his refusal to fight in Vietnam.
Our elected officials have perpetually fallen short and continue to stab voters in the back. Whether Pacquiao can break away from this traditional mold remains to be seen.
The Philippine media may have made him more and created an image greater than the man. But Pacquiao has satisfied our subconscious longing for a hero. The psyche of a race is mirrored in their folk lore. Filipino epic poems tell tales of superheroes like Lam-Ang and Aliguyon. There is also the Philippine legend of Bernardo Carpio, who evolved into a symbol against oppression and enslavement.
But I will have to turn to the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare who wrote it best, ?Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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