You’ve gotta laugh.
You should hold on to something, or somebody. Brace yourself, fasten your body to the furniture if you must, turn off the phone, line up the hard liquor, whatever you have to do to get you through this next statement:
One day, Manny Pacquiao will lose.
It’s true. Face it. He’s super, but he ain’t superman, and like every great fighter someone will get to him.
Now, I have a picture in my mind of half of the population of Manila scrambling to their rooftops to throw themselves off in despair, while the other half let go their breath and leap into the sea.
In a recent article I wantonly suggested that it would be a huge disappointment to everyone should Pacquiao be proven to have artificially engineered his recent astonishing performances, in the same breath noting that having shaken the man’s hand I saw no reason to suspect that he was a cheat.
In brief I had the temerity, yes, the temerity to suggest that Manny Pacquiao was…not on steroids. Sure, I also said that he’d done himself no favors by refusing unconditional testing, something that subsequent events have borne out.
One reader posted his comments in something called a Blog with the title “Manny & Money: Geoff’s Gaffes”
I got half-way through it before the laughter caught up with me. I then picked up a second response, which I can’t be sure but I think came from a different source (I’ve had to abridge it a little):
“You fat f*** shut the f*** up. pac gets his body all natural. How can you idiots write an article and still insinuate that pac is on steroids.. When Pac breaks a record all you white and black writers all insinuate pac is on steroids . SO F*** YOU A**HOLE F****** DISCRIMINATING MTHRF***. IF I EVER SEE YOUR FACE ILL KICK THE F*** OUT OF YOU AND SHOVE YOUR FACE IN THE GROUND!!”
Now, at first glance it may appear that these two responses come from very different sources, but in fact I think they have quite a bit in common. One element is of course the lack of any kind of a life, or even a thought process, that doesn’t involve Manny Pacquiao bestriding the Earth like a colossus, so that the merest, tiniest hint of criticism sends them into apoplectic agony. Another is the near pathological refusal to listen to, contemplate, or even dream that Manny Pacquiao could ever, once, do anything wrong.
Of course I recognize that there are folk out there living in the harshest of circumstances, and that for them the Pacquiao icon represents a glimmer of light in an otherwise hopeless existence, but even then I’d counsel against the kind of rabid fandom of these two contributors.
The truth is that Pacquiao has opened up a world of doubt having refused random blood tests before the Mayweather fight. He and his team have thrown out a range of really quite pathetic excuses for not doing so, ranging from “I’m scared of needles” (He has tattoos all over his body), to the quite ludicrous suggestion that having blood drawn from his body in the last few days before the contest would weaken him (as justification he suggests that he was thus weakened for the Erik Morales loss).
Such prevarication does the Pacquiao cause no credit, as was highlighted this week by the last man to suffer at the flashing fists of the Pacman, Miguel Cotto: “I am completely shocked by the response from Manny on this matter. He has always been an excellent athlete and a gentleman. Why is it that he’s requesting restrictions and conditions to the tests? It is the perfect opportunity for him to dispel all the rumors around himself and the use of steroids.”
Precisely.
I don’t care that it was Mayweather and his backers who called for the tests, or that they’re outside the quite pathetic testing procedures of the Nevada Commission, who lamely traveled over to the Philippines this week to take a urine sample from Manny in a pointless effort to lend legitimacy to proceedings. I would have expected a clean athlete caught up in a maelstrom of controversy and beset with accusations of cheating to have rolled up his sleeve and said: “Take some blood and let’s put this crap to bed and get on with the fight. Take it whenever you want. I’ll make Floyd pay come fight night.”
Instead the doubt rolls on – and millions of Philippines stand perched it seems on the precipice of oblivion should Manny be proved to be a fraud. Consider this – there is a very real possibility that he could lose the fight too, and it’s frightening to conceive the impact that would have on the lives of our two contributors, and the millions of poor, blinkered souls who likewise can’t see beyond the nose on their collective faces.
For my part, I’ll say it again: I hope and expect that Pacquiao will be cleared of all suspicion, though I fail to see how he can expect that to happen if he won’t allow himself to be subjected to the most rigorous examination.
