THERE’S AN amazing similarity in the way they feast on their foes.
The native lust of poor boys, who had been very hungry, often whistled in their punishing punches.
However, there are crucial details that should properly separate Manny Pacquiao from Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista.
This is not to pinch off the man from the boy, but there definitely is a whole world of difference between the immediate fight worlds where these two Filipino boxing heroes have excelled.
A sampler: While Bautista was clearly fed a clown in his last outing — with no assurance whatsoever that his next assignment would not be either a preacher or a barber — Pacquiao is regularly exposed to awesome, man-size tests.
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Look, it was only the dry shell of Erik Morales which Pacquiao had to crush in Las Vegas last month. But Pacman, nevertheless, had to come up with his best in order to prevail in his third meeting with the Mexican boxing great.
The happy thing with Bautista is that, young as he is, he has already been installed as the next big thing in Philippine boxing.
Self-styled experts, together with overjoyed handlers, have started peddling Bautista as the next Manny Pacquiao.
This is not very surprising because, with his devastating conquest of the outmatched Giovanni Andrade in Florida last week, Bautista loomed large as though he was just one crushed rib away from the world championship.
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Bautista’s delicious knockout wins continued to be received with wide-eyed delight by fans.
But there, certainly, is another way of looking at Bautista’s prodigious rise.
In fact, there is this urgent call from seasoned fight hands who suggest that it’s about time they pulled the power-punching boy away from his worn-out walker — “alisin na sa andador.”
There’s the suspicion that Bautista had been coddled like a toddler.
The clamor is to stop feeding him patsies.
Of course, there’s also the likelihood that, with his inborn gift and vast power, Bautista could’ve had succeeded in reducing his victims into hapless phonies.
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You’re free to buy that or not.
Still, there are Bautista defenders who would readily insist that the boy wonder of RP boxing should not be rushed.
Not yet, anyway.
The truth is: what we’ve been seeing here may not even be half of the big hero in the Bohol Bomber.
So when are we going to see the real Bautista? Of Boom Boom in full bloom?
Next year, in the main bout of the RP-Mexico boxing World Cup which sports patron cum laude Tony Aldeguer has reportedly offered to host in Cebu?
With Aldeguer calling the shots, that boxing fiesta is ensured of sensational success this early.
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Anyway, all told, there’s also this lingering feeling that Bautista has become too good to be true.
Yes, Bautista, a work still in progress, has started to be celebrated like a priceless masterpiece.
With his enviable display of poise and power punching, there’s very little reason to doubt he could, indeed, be the next great one in RP boxing.
Meanwhile, there should be a serious effort to prevent the ineptness and inferiority of Bautista’s host of foes from exceeding and blanketing the real great gifts in Boom Boom.
He must be celebrated not because of the insignificance of his victims, but instead on the grandness and toughness of his foes.
You know, just like in the case of Manny Pacquiao.
