Pacquiao defeat: punishment or test?
By Robbie Pangilinan
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 12 Dec 2012
VANCOUVER via MERALCO BOLTS - For eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao, his defeat to Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez was God?s holy will. For his mother Dionisia, it was a punishment.
?That?s what he gets for changing his religion,? Nanay Dionisia, a devout Catholic, said in an interview in General Santos City. The Filipino boxing icon was knocked out by longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth encounter on December 8.
Last year, the People?s Champ, a known gambler and womanizer, declared himself a born again Christian, claiming he had a newfound faith in God and quoting the Bible on several occasions. And the happiest in this transformation is Jinkee, who has always stood behind her husband and has herself begun spending time reading the Bible and attending Bible studies. Pacquiao has apparently been staying up late and losing precious sleep because of nightly Bible studies.
But Nanay Dionisia disapproves of this and is infuriated every time the Christian pastors come to GenSan for Bible studies at the Pacquiao mansion. She says because of them, her son lost focus on his boxing.
The Pac-Mom advised her son to retire from boxing and go back to the Catholic Church.
Pacquiao is known for his religiosity, hearing Mass before every fight, wearing a scapular before his battles, and making the sign of the cross at the opening bell. In this last fight, where a solid right from Marquez left him out cold for two minutes, Pacquiao did not wear a scapular.
Marquez did wear a scapular and made the sign of the cross before and after the fight, making fanatics think that it was what helped him win.
Nanay D is also unhappy that Manny did not give him money to witness the canonization of Pedro Calungsod in Rome last October.
Critics do say that Pacquiao has focused too much on his new ?religion? and his lack of sleep took a toll on his body. Manny also lost to Timothy Bradley last year, after he became a born again Christian.
Boxing analyses and commentaries have shifted from being technical to being religious, one side saying that God might be telling Manny to stop boxing and the other saying he should go back to being Catholic. #
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