A LION IN WINTER, BUT STILL A LION
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 26 Nov 2013
A badly wounded Philippines got a much needed dose of morphine Sunday when Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring and easily beat Brandon Rios in Macau. It was not the spectacular knockout that most Filipinos wanted but the one-sided twelve round beating was enough to satisfy the weary masses hammered by back to back calamities.
Pacquiao?s victory is very special for the people of the Visayan islands who were still in shock after being hit by a 7.2 magnitude quake and a super typhoon that killed thousands. Speculation about his future opponents immediately cropped up even before the official scores were announced. During the post-fight interview, veteran boxing commentator Larry Merchant asked Pacquiao if he could still do this against the division's elite. Pacquiao was emphatic in saying that he can still fight against the best. This question will be a focal point for more discussion in the weeks and months to come.
With all due respect, Rios is tough but he is not an elite boxer. He is not Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez or even Timothy Bradley. Rios? resume pales in comparison to Pacquiao?s past victims like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Oscar dela Hoya.
Two years ago, I decided to stop waiting for Mayweather to run out of excuses to fight Pacquiao. But their respective careers also took different trajectories. Mayweather remains unbeaten and rules the pound for pound list while Pacquiao?s status took a major nosedive when he was knocked out by Marquez.
I have always thought that the Pacquiao who shredded De la Hoya and tore Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto would have been good enough to beat Mayweather. I also believe that the Pacquiao of late 2008 to 2010 would have been competitive against the great welterweights I saw during the 1980?s.
Will we get to see that Pacquiao again ? one last time - for just one more fight?
While the great majority believe that Pacquiao was robbed against Tim Bradley, we have to stop and think about the way Bradley dismantled Marquez. Will this version of Bradley be good enough to really beat the present Pacquiao? Or did Bradley win because he faced a Marquez who finally showed his age?
It is no surprise when Mayweather?s name resurfaces as a future Pacman opponent but if he was really waiting for the window of opportunity to beat Pacquiao, he would have signaled his intentions after Pacquiao looked shaky against Marquez in their third encounter or after the disputed points loss against Bradley.
Seven years ago, I learned never to harbor doubts about Pacquiao. I was writing for the now defunct philippineboxers.com when he was going to fight Erik Morales for the second time. I speculated if he could transform himself into a boxer good enough to beat ?El Terrible?, whatever gloves they used. I actually wrote two drafts for my column a few days before the fight ? one version if Pacquiao lost and another if he won. Pacquiao would go on to be the first man to knock out Morales in one of his greatest victories.
The Pacquiao we saw in Macau is still good enough to beat ninety percent of the boxers in his weight range. He is still marketable and remains the only Filipino boxer that can make his countrymen drop everything and watch his fight on television. He is the only boxer capable of making survivors of a natural disaster smile and cheer.
The country still needs the soon-to-be 35 year old Pacquiao to win. There are still lingering questions from fight pundits after his victory. But we have to take into account that Pacquiao has not seen real ring action for eleven months. We also have to look at the possibility that he was fighting at the level of his opposition.
The aging lion still has teeth. With his speed and skill level, he can find other ways to win. Maybe against the right opponent he will decide to take a bigger bite.
Photo: Manny Pacquiao training in General Santos City. Photo by Wendell Rupert Alinea.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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