In two or three years, Manny Pacquiao will walk away from boxing with certainty that he will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame of boxing five years after his retirement.
There will be a handful of hopefuls who will try to follow his footsteps as there are a few who are now making waves in the square ring.
Among them is hard luck Nonito Donaire Jr who cannot seem to get the much deserved break he needed after pole-axing, Vic Darchinyan, some eons ago. That spectacular fifth round Knockout of the Year victory against the then undefeated and fearsome bully Armenian braggart from Australia was Donaire?s ticket to boxing fame. Sadly though, it looks like it is a trip to the freezer as no marquee fighter is willing to take on him because of Donaire?s superior boxing skill and awesome punching power.
So instead, we are fed with up and coming fighters who are fast becoming one hit wonders. Which reminds me when will Manny keep his promise of developing promising amateur as well as professional boxers.
I know there are ?miles to go and promises to keep? before Manny, now a member of Philippine Congress, ?goes to sleep.?
But time is running short for Manny. When he won the election, he vowed to help the country produce its first Olympic gold medal but we have yet to see how he will do it in two years. In 2012, our amateur boxers will again see action in the London Olympics. They should be getting international exposures by now. But even here, they are hardly known. Even some of the country?s hard nosed sports writers will be hard pressed to name half of the boxers currently in the national training pool.
Manny does not even have a stable of boxers, preferring instead to help promote professional boxers managed by other managers. This is not the way to earnestly develop and nurture young talents. Many himself has to pick new talen
