We’ve already noted that it’s rare in the Philippines that roads are eerily quite — no traffic, not much people and crime rate is practically down to zero. No fighting in politics (but not the “politicking”). No war between the military and the rebels. The reason? Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is in the boxing ring in another big fight.
In the remote possibility that you, as a welcome guest to our country, don’t know it yet, every fight of Pacquiao is a big fight. If you’re annoyed by screams and shouts of encouragement for Pacquiao, don’t bother thinking that you’ll be better off in some other place — you’ll most likely encounter the same thing anywhere you go in the Philippines. We shout when Manny lands a huge punch and we won’t care who’s beside us. We say “yeah” when the opponent get’s bloodied. It’s sometimes difficult to understand why in a predominantly Catholic country, we’d pray for Pacquiao to beat the living daylight out of his opponent. But, hey, it’s just a sport.
Early this year, 2008, Manny finished whatever “Unfinished Business” he has with Juan Manuel Marquez, by defeating the latter. In June of this year, Pacquiao released lethal combinations to outpower and outclass the Dangerous David Diaz. From seeing the improvements of the Pacman in that fight, practically everybody acknowledged that he is, pound for pound, currently the best fighter.
This time, Manny will be going up his natural weight class to fight the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya. The Golden Boy, who will be in his natural weight class, has a 4-inch height and 6-inch reach advantage. This led some to consider the match, dubbed as the “Dream Match” and scheduled on 6 December 2008 (in the US), as a mismatch. Maybe Manny will lose this time, eh? (By the way, that’s December 7, Sunday, 10 a.m. Philippine time).
If you’re in the Philippines at the time of the fight, please don’t wonder if Filipinos are stuck to the tv. Also, please remember that there’s a reason why nobody would cheer against Manny during the fight . . . and the reason is not based on nationality or betting odds. If you want to find out, please don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Update: The fight is finally over after 8 rounds. It’s obvious to see that Manny Pacquiao had a very difficult time. That is, answering the interviewer’s questions at the end of the fight with Oscar de la Hoya. Other than that, especially the 8 rounds of boxing greatness display, the whole thing looked really easy for the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao.
From the first bell at the first round, it was very clear that Pacquiao found Oscar’s Achilles heel — or maybe Oscar wasn’t able to find the correct fight plan to neutralize the speed, power, accuracy and fighting style of Pacquiao.
I’ve said it before, I’m no boxing expert, but I’ll say it again, the fighting style seen in great boxers became very clear during the David Diaz fight. I’ve seen Manny fight during his bleached-hair days. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Manny relied more on his speed and power to win in his previous fights. This time Manny added superb style to his arsenal. In the fights against Diaz and de la Hoya, Manny has joined the ranks of boxing greats. He floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee (with apologies to the great Ali).
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Pacquiao is pretty much overrated. He’s no much to the Golden boy. Bet Freddie Roach will eat his words about Pacquiao knocking out Oscar in 6 rounds.