SUGAR Ray Leonard said it very, very subtly.
The sweet-punching legend took extra care not to offend.
Leonard could’ve told Manny Pacquiao to play it smart, box intelligently when they met on Thursday at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
In grade school parlance, that’s as harsh as telling the dumb kid to “Use your coconut, damn it.” If you can’t, “Better go home and plant camote.”
Leonard, however, played it like a concerned father.
He merely motioned with his index finger to deliver his message.
“You should also use this,” said Leonard as quoted by Winchell Campos in California.
Campos said Leonard “pointed to his head to indicate that half of the battles on top of the ring are won because of mental preparation and toughness.”
Campos said Pacquiao nodded meekly in complete concurrence.
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Well, as had been previously noted, Pacquiao may not feel very comfortable with what Leonard had offered.
No, I did not say Pacquiao is not a thinking fighter.
He may not be as heady as, say, Leonard or Erik Morales, but he has also learned to box intelligently through the years.
But, more than his head, Pacquiao will be riding on his blazing fists when he clashes with Morales in Las Vegas 12 days from now.
Pacquiao has stopped six of his last seven opponents starting in 2002.
Morales, on the other hand, had only three knockouts in eight fights starting in 2002.
Morales also suffered twin losses (on points) against Marco Antonio Barrera during that period.
The only black mark, if it could be called such, for Pacquiao was the drawn bout against Juan Manuel Marquez who escaped with the aid of faulty scoring last May.
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Pacquiao is clearly ahead in the knockout department.
But not everybody is happy at the wild manner his camp has been hyping Pacquiao’s supposed edge over Morales.
In fact, fight expert Hermie Rivera had reason to suggest Morales must not be fazed by the taunts from Pacquiao and his handlers.
Said Se?or Rivera, who has turned master texter overnight: “Despite the insistence of Manny’s horde of a quick ending in his favor when he takes on terrible Erik, a conclusive ending is likely to happen in the late rounds. Morales will show up for his assigned March 19 shootout with Pacquiao — hype notwithstanding. It will be a terrific battle (no mismatch for sure). Hope Manny will check in fully armed (as you’ve repeatedly assured) with the right pair of socks this time.”
Now, as the countdown for the Pacquiao-Morales encounter nears, fans should be sending Sugar Ray a thank-you note.
Why? Because Pacquiao, seasoned as he may be, also tends to drop his guard when he starts to lash at his foe inside the ring.
He has the tendency to lose his head, so to say, thereby making the Leonard tip very timely.
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In my case, I could only thank journalist Winchell Campos who has painstakingly stuck to Pacquiao.
The most delicious details of Pacquiao’s close encounter with Sugar Ray Leonard could’ve escaped an ordinary scribe.
But Campos was not the sort to drop his guard before world celebrities.
He did not blink. In fact, he has generously offered vital details from the Pacquiao camp in the run-up to the monumental March 19 showdown.
Anyway, if Campos could find time, he may ask Leonard what he could advise Erik Morales.
Knowing Leonard, he’s not expected to offer the same tip he had given Pacquiao.
This is just a guess. But I feel Leonard would tell Morales: Wield a bigger punch, man.
Show up with an axe, if you can, not with pins and lancets.
Maybe Leonard should explain that it does not always pay for a boxer to be too brainy in front of a certified executioner.
It’s a war, not a plain debate, Morales will have against the fire-breathing Pacquiao.
It won’t be a waltz.
It pays to think and rock-and-roll at the same time.
