LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao, a merciless lefty, knows a great right hand when he sees one.
He had a full, bright view of that right punch on Saturday.
He also won a few friendly dollars betting on that punch.
The deadly shot was thrown by Kelly Pavlik, also known as The Ghost, in his world middleweight title fight against the undefeated Jermain Taylor.
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Before we go further, it must be noted that the punch that mesmerized Pacquiao into picking a fighter who was clearly on the losing end, was not that booming baseball bat of a facial slam Taylor received with disfiguring, devastating impact in the seventh round.
No, it was another one, although practically of the same edition.
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It?s like this. Taylor floored Pavlik in the second round and was highly favored to finish the job in the third.
Nobody in his right mind, therefore, would put money on Pavlik, even if he happened to be his brother.
Still, Pavlik came back from the dead, like a real ghost, to score some good shots.
One of these great punches, Pacquiao saw very clearly in the third round.
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To repeat: Pavlik was, pure and simple, on the losing end.
But before the fourth round of the title fight could start, Pacquiao challenged his boys at the Palazzo to a friendly bet.
He dared them to wager against Pavlik.
Not only that. He offered a handicap, their two dollars against three on his side.
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Well, practically everybody around took the blind dare.
What followed were some of the finest moments in middleweight boxing.
Now, to make the long story short, Pacquiao ended up picking up a bundle.
Pavlik, as Pacquiao must?ve expected ahead, went on to stop Taylor in the seventh.
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It was not exactly a big killing Pacquiao made.
But the take must?ve been big enough to buy a gift for his boyhood buddy and trainer Buboy Fernandez, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday.
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Listen please. In case you missed that great right hand, here?s a tip.
If you come to visit at Wild Card, there?s a replica of that great right punch on a torn-out newspaper page pasted on the right side of the entrance.
And the one hitting with the baseball bat, in its gory impact, was Manny Pacquiao himself.
This happened in Pacman?s first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, whom he stopped in 2003.
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No need to report that Pacquiao, before leaving for this city, was seen several afternoons perfecting his right hand.
Pacquiao, a left-handed original, is definitely no copycat.
But, going by the trend, it won?t come as a surprise if he copies the Pavlik right shot against Barrera here on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila).
In truth, the effort won?t amount to plagiarism.
Pacquiao, if he scores that big, killer right again, would simply be repeating himself.
