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DO THEY HAVE A TRUE HERO IN THE BRADLEY CAMP? By Recah Trinidad PhilBoxing.com Sun, 13 Apr 2014  AFTER more than everything has been said by experts and the opposing parties in the run-up to today?s rematch for the WBO welterweight championship, one big question hangs up there: Is there a genuine hero in Timothy Bradley, the champ? Before anything else, let it be said that there?s no need to wonder similarly about Manny Pacquiao, the challenger who has never failed to display nobility even in defeat. Didn?t Pacquiao keep his cool in the face of unmitigated treachery after his first fight against Bradley? ** Pacquiao, for one, is not the sort who would not take a bath during the week of the fight, nor refuse to wear socks to a battle proper. Pacquiao, by the way, also wore that humble smile when taunted and heckled by Bradley in their first televised face-off in California. Cried the virulent WBO welterweight champ in charging Pacquiao has lost his killer instinct: ?It?s no longer there, it?s gone Manny. You can?t sit there and say certain things that you would like to say because of what you believe in. The killer instinct, it?s not there, it?s gone!? ?I pray that God can give me back the fire,? Pacquiao replied. ?Another fire, I will pray for that.? ** Maybe Bradley has taken his dubious championship as license to insult and abuse Pacquiao?. He would blast the rival, while professing his alleged invincibility, crying he?s a lot smarter, faster than the 8-division world title winner from Genersal Santos City. Bradley bragged of secret weapons, hidden moves he vowed to flash once inside the ring. Then, on the eve of the weigh-in, the unbeaten WBO champion cried he would jump over to knock out Pacquiao. ** How the light-punching champion with one of the poorest KO ratios in the world has suddenly acquired killer power is quite hard to imagine. Against this backdrop came expert advice, the latest from the legendary Roy Jones Jr, that Pacquiao need not be tigerish and wholly fierce, and just have to box his usual way to dominate Bradley in today?s rematch. One reason cited was the concussive win scored by Bradley over Ruslan Provodnokov wherein he visilbly lost more than he had gained after emerging from the duel in a wheel-chair. ** Yes, Pacquiao can lose (to himself) if he fights a stupid match. He can?t afford a repeat of the chilling lights-out defeat suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez, Meanwhile, there were other significant developments that surfaced in the run-up to today?s do-or-die duel in Las Vegas. Of these, the most gripping was the apparent inability of Bradley to fit into the role of a genuine hero, no thanks to his often questionable behavior. Let?s hope and pray today?s result would change that because boxing cannot afford to harbor a champion who cannot be a hero at the same time. ** (PENNILESS PHILANTHROPIST: It was erroneously stated in my last column that it was not clear who my father?s favorite Filipino boxer was ?when he died in 1969.? Tatay died in 1983 at age 69. Father had also been mistaken for a magician after what he had done to trick Japanese soldiers while town guerillas looted the enemy warehouse. Tatay, who went only as far as Grade 5, was a well-admired orator who kept people flocking to boring barrio political rallies. He wrote short stories. He was also billed the penniless philantropist for having provided jobs to poor, unschooled townmates through his humble connections while serving as town councilor. Thank you very kindly.) Click here to view a list of other articles written by Recah Trinidad.  |
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