SACRAMENTO, California—The bible bows to mere mortals.
It genuflects before demigods.
The Ring’s double issue for March, now at newsstands, features Filipino boxing deity Manny Pacquiao on the cover. And that’s just for starters.
The publication’s April special edition—extra, in newsroom parlance—will also have Manny on the cover when it hits the streets on Feb. 6.
Formerly called Ring Magazine, the publication has dubbed itself the bible of boxing and rightly so since Hall of Famer Nat Fleischer inaugurated it in 1922.
All through the years, it has unearthed boxing scandals, helped unheralded fighters hit pay dirt and become famous and covered the sport’s mega events of all time.
Never mind the explosion of chatty boxing magazines and shallow websites. The Ring remains the gold standard for boxing news.
The extra will serve as the Ring’s year-end awards issue. Its highlight:
Pacquiao’s selection as the magazine’s fighter of the year. It also marks the fourth time since 2004 that The Ring has featured the Pacman on its cover.
As the cover boy of the March issue, now on sale, Pacquiao is captured spearing with a left jab, a part of his arsenal that brought down his Mexican nemesis Erik Morales in the third round of their last encounter of a classic trilogy last Nov. 18.
The Filipino slugger’s ferocious stance speaks volumes about his crowd-pleasing nature.
When it comes to ring action, he is no colossal bore like many boxing champions today.
In fact, two interesting articles in the March issue are on target about that.
“Best in the World?” writer William Detloff asked about Pacquiao on page 38.
“Too Much Pretty Boy and not Enough Gritty Boy?’ author Eric Raskin wonders on page 30 about reigning welterweight king Floyd Mayweather.
Yes, Mayweather as in the guy due to face Oscar de la Hoya, alias Golden Boy, Pacquiao’s botched promoter in May in what is predicted as boxing’ biggest pay-per-view encounter.
Ho-hum.
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Seems like only yesterday when the Louisville Lip entered the boxing scene and changed it forever. But come Jan. 17, Muhammad Ali turns 65.
Wrote A.J. Liebling about Ali’s entry into the sport: “Just when the sweet science appears to lie like a painted ship upon a painted ocean,” a new Hero . . . comes along like a Moran tug to pull it out of the ocean.”
In the run-up to Ali’s birthday, the media have started to celebrate the great heavyweight’s mind and muscle.
The media are beginning to tap a slew of celebrities, athletes and human rights activists in revisiting the former champion’s phrases, poems and witticisms. Remember “floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee?”
The sports shows on television have dusted off their canned documentaries or produced new ones about the guy. One such production, “Ali’s Dozen” was shown on ESPN last night and would be queued to run again before Jan. 17.
“Ali’s Dozen” looks back at the 12 greatest fights fought by the sports giant. It includes the legendary “Thrilla in Manila” with Joe Frazier and “Rumble in the Jungle” and the famous rope-a-dope triumph over George Foreman.
