REMEMBER the celebrated haggling over the purse figures in the Pacquiao-Hatton fight on May 2 in Las Vegas?
From 60-40 in favor of Hatton, it became 52-48 in favor of Pacquiao.
How did it happen?
Someone far from us but whose heart is closer to home than your Reluctant Mr. Immigrant helped author the coup de grace.
I refer to Hermie Rivera, who stays mostly now in that charming city of Newark in San Francisco but whose links with boxing is as eternal as time.
Rivera it was who sowed the seeds that made Manny Pacquiao richer by yet another $2.9 million – at the very least.
Filipino pride was chief fodder for the cannon.
And Hermie was in the thick of things to bolster Pinoy dignity on the world stage.
It happened one lazy day in faraway Mindanao. Pacquiao was playing basketball in GenSan, the city of his affections. During a timeout, Jeng Gacal, the Ilocano Ingredient in the Pacman Team, approached the National Punch.
“Let’s go for it,” said Jeng, the noted lawyer-adviser of Pacquiao. “It’s 52-48 or nothing.”
Jeng was echoing Hermie’s line relayed by e-mail on January 14.
“Their ’50-50 deal or nothing stuff’ is pure bluff,” said Jeng to Manny. “Stick to 52-48 or nothing.”
Pacquiao got the 52-48 deal and the rest, as we love to say, is history. Hermie, because he is a grizzled boxing icon himself, knows the wheeling and dealing in the often sleazy world of boxing.
In case you’ve forgotten, he has produced two world champions: Luisito Espinosa and Morris East. No doubt Pacquiao is up there.
But unbeknownst to him, a hero could pop up from the cold on his behalf. For, despite its “red-light district” tag in sports, boxing will always produce an unsung hero.
