PACQUIAO THE HERO RETURNS TO A HUGE WELCOME AND THANKS GOD FOR BEING ABLE TO LIFT THE SPIRITS OF A DEVASTATED PEOPLE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 26 Nov 2013
MACAU ? "Fighter of the Decade" Manny Pacquiao left Macau shortly after 1:00 p.m. Monday aboard a specially chartered flight for his hometown of General Santos City where he was scheduled to receive a hero's welcome following his masterful twelve round unanmous decision victory over Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios before a sell-out crowd at the Cotai Arena in the plush Venetian Hotel and Casino.
Rios, sporting a battered face from the rapier-like punches of Pacquiao, left earlier with trainer Robert Garcia and his entourage, plainly happy over the fact that he survived twelve rounds against Pcquiao who he acknowledged was at his best and whose speed effectively killed any chances of a win he so desperately wanted.
After breakfast with his wife Jinkee who is carrying their fifth child, Pacquiao was visited by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and wife Lovee and Hollywood star Stephen Baldwin. Another celebrity visitor was Paris Hilton who was at specal ringside to support Pacquiao along with Baldwin and soccer icon David Beckham all of whom are fans and friends of the Pacquiaos.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who had earlier announced an April 12 date for Pacquiao's next fight indicated it may be pushed back to give Manny a chance to enjoy the success of his return to the ring after a one year layoff and to allow him to visit the areas devastated by super typhoon Yolanda which Pacquiao has longed to do.
Arum is expected to try to begin quiet negotiations for a possible fight against undefeated pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr in the second half of next year after Pacquiao himself said he'd like to face Mayweather in a fight which boxing fans have longed for over the past four years.
Pacquiao himself said he is "willing to fight Floyd (Mayweather) but its up to him if he's willing also." When reminded that one of the obstacles to getting the fight done in the past over Mayweather's insistence of random drug tests which Pacquiao had complied with in the Rios fight, the eight division world champion replied "that decision is up to Mayweather's camp."
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach believes that Mayweather has lost some of his mobility and his legs are not quite the same as he is getting older and he doesn't move as much as he did in the past."
Roach believes that Pacquiao's speed which he demonstrated in the Rios fight "will overwhelm Floyd." He noted that Mayweather "has problems fighting southpaws and has trouble with speed."
The punch stats in Pacquiao's near shutout win over Rios were heavily in favor of the newly crowned WBO International welterweight champion who threw a total of 790 punches in th twelve round bout, connecting on 223 of 468 power punches for a high 48 percent while Rios connected on 113 of 263 for a lower 43 percent even as Manny landed 19 out of 39 power shots per round while Rios landed less than 10 of 22.
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