I try to clear my head at night as I fall asleep. But like most people, the more I try to clear it the more thoughts pop into it. It always ends up being some weird boxing thought. Which of course leads to some weird kind of dream. Take last night’s dream. I guess with all the speculation about Manny Pacquiao and his recent lack of training that I am on Pacman overload. It went something like this.
September 7th. Word is that Manny Pacquiao is doing another movie. His representatives release a statement saying that the Miguel Cotto fight will be postponed until summer 2010. The boxing world is thrown into chaos. Reporters are sent to get an exclusive interview with Manny on the set of his new movie.
Newsflash, Philippines. The search for Manny Pacquiao is over. The junior welterweight and pound for pound king has been found on the set of his latest action flick. Manny is sporting a new look. Living the good life seems to have changed him. His new look, to be honest, he is huge.
I ask him what happened? “First let me tell you about my new movie, it is called The Deli Express.” “So”, I ask, “it takes place in India?” Manny looks puzzled and tells me no. He proceeds to lay out the movie’s plot for me. “I am flying a cargo plane full of deli meats from Boston to New York when I am forced to land the plane on an island during a bad storm. To survive I am forced to eat the entire cargo hold of deli meats.” “It sounds great Manny, and how long are you standed on the island?” “Two days”, Manny replies. “When the fog lifts I realize that I am actually on Long Island. Then the action begins as I try to shed the eighty pounds I gained in those two days.”
Manny tells me that he is enjoying his life and wants to continue to fight. But he will not be losing the weight to do so. “I’ll defend my pound for pound title, but I wont be coming back down to welterweight.”
September 15th. Newsflash, Mexico. Juan Manuel Marquez has called an impromptu press conference. Also attending is Floyd Mayweather.
Floyd barks out, “I’m Money Mayweather and everything under the sun revolves around me, whatcha gotta say bout that J2M?” Juan responds,” the Mayweather fight is off, I can’t fool myself anymore.” “I will be chasing Pacquiao up in weight, hoping to secure a fight with him at a catchweight of 212 pounds.”
Floyd continues yelling at anyone that will listen, “I told all of you that nobody wants to fight me, but to prove how great I am, I will be calling out Ivan Calderon.” A reporter yells back to Mayweather, “but isn’t he the junior flyweight champion?” “That’s right! That’s how great I am, I’ll fight all those champs, fly, beetle, ladybug, gnat!” “”Bring ’em all on!”
Suddenly a door in the back of the room swings open. The media seem happy to see whoever it is. As the man approaches, the media step back, way back. It’s Ricky Hatton. He is back.
Floyd stands up pointing to Hatton, “didn’t I beat you once before Ricky? You want another piece of the money man, don’t cha? Well first you got to lose that ridiculous Ricky Fatton fat suit?” Ricky responds, “First off Floyd, I’d approach you mate, but I’m afraid Joe Cortez would jump in and tell me to break before I got within punching distance of you. And secondly, what the hell are you talking about? I’m not wearing a fat suit. I want to go up in weight and fight Marquez.”
January 2010, Las Vegas. Pacquiao has been training on the anti- south beach diet. He has been consuming nothing but bad cards. Juan has been training at various buffets in California.
They both tipped the scales at 212 pounds. And I mean literally, their guts are so huge that the scale tipped forward when each man stepped on it. This is what Marquez has longed for. They meet in the center of the ring and fall into a clinch. Each man is exhausted. You can see the mental strain that each man is going through. The ref steps in to break them. He proceeds to give them the prefight instructions as the fight hasn’t started yet.
It is going to be a long, long night.
