(Dr. Manny Pacquiao: The Southwestern University in Cebu City is conferring a doctorate in humanities, honoris causa, to Filipino boxing superhero Manny Pacquiao, philboxing.com has reported. Lawyer Jeng Gacal said Pacquiao has accepted the honor. The date of the conferment will be announced later.)
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The tip came a couple of weeks too late.
A report in the International Herald Tribune suggests Oscar de la Hoya could?ve still pulled the trigger during his Dream Match against Manny Pacquiao.
That?s granting De la Hoya had dug deep into his pocket, not into his faded bag of tricks, for a piece of the world-famous sex-pop pill Viagra.
Sorry, but assistance crawled like a wasted Rescue 911 ambulance that couldn?t find the right address.
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Based on a medical report emanating from Scranton, Pennsylvania and penned by Jere? Longman, Viagra ? sildenafil citrate ? could?ve momentarily lent Oscar that needed Saturday night kick ? ?staying alive, staying alive, ah, hah, ah? ? inside the ring.
There?s evidence Viagra could be a great help, not in the bedroom, but in the playing field, the report explains.
Anyway, it would become clear that, by the third round, when De la Hoya?s badly bruised left ear had turned purple, the Golden Boy also had to puff hard for what little was in his oxygen tank.
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Oscar sat busted, forlorn, obviously realizing too late the impossible altitude to which Pacquiao, in ascending his personal Everest, had pushed the stormy boxing battle.
Viagra could?ve been of help?
Maybe, says the medical report:
?Viagra was devised to treat pulmonary hypertension or high blood pressure in arteries of the lungs. The drug works by suppressing an enzyme that controls blood flow, allowing vessels to relax and widen.?
De la Hoya was in need of emergency aid.
This would, in fact, be confirmed by the subsequent expos? on how Oscar had turned terribly tardy in training.
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Unbeaten Edwin Valero, 27, a main guest in Pacquiao?s birthday bash in General Santos City on Dec. 17, swore Oscar had openly displayed a disdain for hard work.
Valero, who worked as sparring partner for De la Hoya but later bolted camp, told his Filipino friend Jeff de Guzman that Oscar was often not keen in hitting the road for the required morning jogs.
And his tardiness, not unusual to great fighters in their waning years, could?ve immeasurably ruined Oscar?s oxygen reserve.
?A 2004 German study of climbers at 17,200 feet at a Mt. Everest base camp found that Viagra relieved constriction of blood vessels in the larynx and increased maximum exercise capacity,? says the report.
Actually this finding, reported in the International Herald Tribune, forms part of a study financed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, ?investigating whether Viagra creates unfair advantage at dilating an athlete?s vessels and unduly increasing oxygen-carrying capacity.?
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Anyway, as it would become clear in the one-sided Dream Match, paralysis on the part of the wasted De La Hoya led to his downfall.
To make it worse, Oscar had to surrender on the stool, terribly unbecoming of a proud and highly respected ring warrior.
Continues the report: ?In the case of athletes, increased cardiac output can raise efficient transport of oxygenized fuel to the muscles and enhance endurance.?
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Basically, Viagra allows you to compete with a sea level, or near sea level, aerobic capacity at altitude, the report adds.
It was just too bad (for De la Hoya) that Pacquiao showed up in the form of a perfect storm, dispensing impotence, almost clinically, into the opponent?s airless veins.
The same report says there is no evidence of widespread use of Viagra by elite athletes.
Why?
The drug is not prohibited, thus not screened with any routine urgency.
There is no way to know how popular it is, the report says.
There is also a study examining the way Viagra affects male and female athletes.
Would it have made any difference in Oscar?s case?
