I’m sorry to say but the more I think about the December 6 showdown between Oscar and Manny, the more dumbfounded I am that there are some fans who cannot appreciate the bout. Forget for a minute that there are millions of dollars involved, or that the two fighters bring in tons of people who will cheer, not only for their national heroes, but also for every single fighter on the undercard (even the residual crowds before the main event will be bigger for some of those guys not to mention the tv viewers). These are important points but they are better left for another time.
No, what strikes me odd is that Manny Pacquiao, widely considered the best p4p fighter in the world today, actually found himself one heck of a challenging opponent. At a time when name fighters generally travel the safer route, and make “business” decisions regarding who they can generally beat, Manny is taking on an opponent who he is not favored to overcome.
Isn’t that exactly what a real fan should expect of the best pound for pound boxer in the world?
I remember a time when the best p4p fighters, like Floyd Mayweather, and Roy Jones, routinely fought joke opponents. From Henry Brusseles, to Glen Kelly, the standard fare for these guys were journeymen fighters who could try just hard enough to make their p4p status look good for a few rounds. No doubt both Roy, and Floyd, were the very best, but sadly there was something lackluster in the way they went about proving it once on top. It was so bad in fact that I searched for any opportunity to try and bring them down a peg, just so maybe they would go and do what we all knew they could, as the fights for Roy with Montell Griffin, and for Floyd with Emanuel Augustus illustrated. However, even then these were mediocre opponents that brought out that real p4p quality out in them, not fighters who actually had a shot of winning against the very best versions of those men.
Sadly, neither Roy, or Floyd, went out on the limb Manny has, to cement their claims. Some may say Jones going up to heavyweight was special, but in my mind, beating John Ruiz was in retrospect a ridiculous achievement. I was happy Ruiz got owned, but beyond that Roy was just too good a fighter, and should have challenged the likes of Tyson, or possibly Lennox Lewis, to show the public he has the will to continue searching for greater challenges.
However, if Jones at least went up to heavyweight, Floyd’s ass stayed far enough away from Winky Wright, even though the two jawed for days on end when Mayweather was still fighting. While he fought Oscar, because Floyd was naturally bigger than Manny it was not as big a challenge as it will be for the Filipino warrior.
The bottom line is, Manny Pacquiao can show up 100% ready, willing, and able to win the fight, and still lose. Lose because of size, power, or some unforseen cut, or injury occuring at some unknown point in the later rounds. He can lose, and still come out looking like a winner, because his character, that belief of his in self, pushed him to not sit atop the world of boxing and his own success without doing anything worthwhile.
No, with Manny, being atop the mountain pushed him to say, “if they want to call me the best in the world, it is my responsibility to find the sort of difficult challenge that will verify that very belief in me.”
Compared to what we have seen from other p4p fighters, I say that is admirable, and the Pacquiao fans have every reason to be proud of their fighter.
