Pacquiao talks about prayer and Marquez
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 01 Dec 2012
MANILA(PNA via PCSO)? The eight-Division world boxing champion could, indeed, be too good to be true. By the way he speaks, he sounds like an altar boy than a brawler atop the ring. He never talks ill about his opponents even to those who often insult him.
For nine years and after three fights and 36 rounds of banging bodies and heads with Juan Manuel Marquez, the Mexican legend named ?El Dinamita? has been going all over the world proclaiming he won all those three meetings, claiming he was ?robbed? of victories blaming the judges for his perceived woes.
To which the 33-year-old national hero could only say ? bad decisions by judges are a normal part of the sport and should not be dwelled upon,? or something to that effect.
Pacquiao always says the right things. He says things in soft voice as if he?s talking to a priest and making confession. He?s been raised in the General Santos City by his mother Aleng Dionisia or Mommy ?D? to be a religious as his five other siblings been.
?Mommy D taught us to pray at the start of what we?re doing and after finishing them,? he confided to this reporter in one interview. ?Hindi kami pinatutulog sa gabi kung wala pa kahit isa sa amin, kasi magdadasal kami. Pagkagising, dasal na naman. ?
?Wala na sigurong tatalo sa akin kung dasalan lang ang paguusapan. Even in training, before I run and before I climb the ring, I pray. Even in working with the heavy bag, double end and speed balls, I pray ? Pacquiao said.
Like Marquez, the ?Pacman? is looking forward to knocking out the Mexican legend to, once and for all, erase the doubts the four-division titleholder?s believers have also been proclaiming.
Instead of saying ?If he runs, I?ll cripple ?im, if he comes to me, I?ll kill ?im,? as what boxing?s bad boy Sonny Liston used to say. Or Muhammad ?The Great? Ali referring to Geogre Chuvalo as ?the Washerwoman? and Floyd Patterson as the ?Thud at the end of the third round? and Liston as ?the Big Ol? Ugly Bear.? or Joe Louis? famous quote ?He can run, but he can?t hide.?
Asked what he would do to accomplish his goal of stopping Marquez, Pacquio merely retorted:? For five or six weeks now, I?ve been training extensively and in earnest from General Santo City to Los Angeles. When I get to Las Vegas in the final week of preparations, I will resume working out.?
?And what we?ve been doing at the camps and what we?ve learned from studying the tapes of our previous fights, trying to correct the mistakes we made, we, along with Freddie (Roach) in the corner, will implement atop the ring.
?Marquez is a good fighter. He?s, in fact, one of the best in this era. I admit, hirap talaga ako sa kanya. He?s the hardest opponent I faced,? Pacquiao assessed. ?But he is beatable. He can be knocked down as I did to him the first two fights. ?
?Me, he never sent me to the canvas in those 36 rounds that we?re in the ring. Unfair naman na sabihin nya na hindi ko siya tinalo doon sa tatlong laban na yun. Unfair din na sisihin nya ang judges. At unfair ding sabihing na ninakawan siya ng panalo,? he declared in what could be the harshest words that came from his lips.
Erratum
Early this week, a story that came out reporting that Manny Pacquiao knocked down sparring partner Frankie Gomez in one of the sparring sessions.
It turned out it was not Gomez whom the eight-division champ sent to the canvas but one Jessie Roman.
As explained by veteran sportswriter Eddie Alinea who wrote the story, he based his story on a photo sent to several media outfits with caption that it was one ?Benjie? Gomez whom the Pacman sent kneeling after absorbing a strong left.
Alinea, president of the Sports Communicators Organization of the Philippines (SCOOP), knowing there is only one Gomez in Pacquiao?s sparring rotation corrected the error changing the name ?Benjie? to Frankie.
Gomez, by the way, has never been knocked down in his young boxing career.
?It was an honest mistake and I apologize to Frankie and his team for that, ?Alinea said.
(Eddie Alinea is a sportswriter of 41 years who was Joe Frazier?s press liaison during the 1975 world championship bout against Muhammad Ali held in Manila)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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