Losing a small handful of fights over the course of a twenty year pro career shouldn?t cost an elite-level fighter any fan support, especially for someone like Manny Pacquiao, who has been among the sport?s very best for twelve years or so. And even losing a decision to arch-rival Floyd Mayweather, who Manny called out constantly for at least five years, shouldn?t be grounds for fan abandonment.
But the question remains whether the Manny Pacquiao who will return to the ring in the spring of 2016 will be as beloved and as revered as the Manny Pacquiao who was portrayed as being in hot pursuit of the hated ?Money? Mayweather all those years?
Honestly, chances are pretty good that only the core true believers, who date back to his pre-lightweight days, will be there for the returning ?Pac Man.?
If the shine on the Pacquiao diamond is, indeed, duller and his fan support thinner, blame it all on what has been happening outside the ring, rather than anything the eight-division world champ has done inside his beloved squared circle.
Fans, at the time, bought into the ?I?m chasing Mayweather? routine for quite awhile, until, as things would turn out, it was Mayweather, himself, who would be instrumental in making the mega-fight happen.
Then, having lost that hero vs. coward badge of honor, Pacquiao would face harsher realities in a fairly one-sided loss against his nemesis. Again, though, there?s no shame in losing to Mayweather? if one takes the loss with grace and dignity.
And that?s where things get ugly.
Manny didn?t take the loss with grace and dignity. Instead, he blamed an injured shoulder for the loss and stood firm on making that excuse every single time asked about the fight. Regardless of whether the injury was legit or not (more on that later), the excuse making came off as the ultimate in sour grapes and poor sportsmanship.
Then, to make matters worse, Pacquiao claims to have been healed from major shoulder surgery in a matter of just three months?without ever having gone to a doctor or undergoing rehab?by a divine miracle. The God and saltwater ?miracle? has to have raised some doubts regarding the alleged injury In even the most loyal of Pacquiao?s fans.
Just about everything Manny has done since losing to Mayweather has worked to dash the reputation he has cultivated over the years as a classy, fan-friendly boxing personality. Pacquiao has simply not acted like the humble superhero who won the hearts of mainstream boxing fans everywhere. An excuse-making, poor loser, who insults the intelligence of the fans with some silly ?miracle cure? story is bound to turn off a healthy portion of his fan base.
We?ll see as soon as spring of next year if there has been some collateral losses from the way post-Mayweather Manny has conducted himself. Or, maybe, his fan base is so loyal and so devoted that they will never leave his side under any circumstances.
