PACQUIAO PROVES THEM WRONG AGAIN
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 15 Apr 2014
LOS ANGELES -- Eat your hearts out, Timothy Bradley and trainer Joel Diaz. You, too, boxing judges C. J. Ross and Duane Ford.
Bradley, who less than a week ago owned the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt, proclaimed to the whole world he will retire Filipino ring treasure Manny Pacquiao, whom he was scheduled to fight in a rematch last Saturday. Diaz seconded his ward's pronouncement adding further that Saturday's encounter would be Pacquiao's last, adding, "that's what we're here for."
Twenty-two months ago, Ross and Ford were co-principals in robbing the fighting congressman of Sarangani Province of his 147-pound crown during the Pacquiao-Bradley 1 by submitting identical 115-113 scorecards that handed Bradley the win and preserved his unbeaten record, which nearly the whole boxing community considered the worst decision ever in boxing history.
The 35-year-old Kibawe, Bukidnon-born Filipino, also known as "Pacman" proved all four wrong by fashioning out a decisive unanimous decision victory and went home to his mansion in Los Angeles champion anew, while Bradley, "The Desert Strom," returned home at Palm Springs, California, beaten for the first time in 32 pro-fights crownless.
"Yeah, I proved them wrong and that means, my journey, as I promised, will continue," Pacquiao, who is expecting his fifth child with Sarangani Vice Gov. Jinkee, said in an interview inside the tourist bus that brought his team and party back to L.A. last Sunday.
"That win, too, means, my mission in life of making people happy through the sport I know best isn't over yet, as many who cared to listen to Bradley, believed," Pacquiao told his audience, that included mother Dionisia, estranged father Rosalio, sister Isidra and younger brother Rogel. Other sibling to the Rosalio-Dionisia union, Bobby, was in a separate vehicle of the 40-car convoy.
"I will continue fighting, not for myself, but for our 'kababayans' who live in cemented basketball courts, outdoor tents, who are victims of past and present natural catastrophes and need to be given hopes that, in God's help, they will overcome," he vowed.
"For those, who have, likewise, living in abject poverty and don't know what future await them, victimized by man-made calamities," he lamented.
He treasured Saturday's win, Pacquiao said, not only for winning back the world title, but, likewise, earning the respect of the man, who, he said, had been disrespectful of him, issuing verbal abuses, teasing and taunting him until the very day of the fight.
"I am glad to hear that he (Bradley) has offered his apology during the post-fight press conference. I also accept the apology offered by his trainer (Joel Diaz), who came to my dressing room just minutes before the fight, also to say sorry for what they've done to me, which I consider a slur to my family, our country and the Filipino race," Pacquiao narrated.
"I accept their apologies, which means they're also God-fearing people who are ready to humble themselves like an apostle of God should be," he said.
Photo: WBO welterweight world champion Manny Pacquiao rides the Pacquiao bus going back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas Sunday. Photo by Wendell Rupert Alinea.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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