After what he has achieved, Manny Pacquiao is now in a pedestal where making him face fast-fading opponents amounts to an insult to his eminence. True enough, the announcement that Pacquiao would most likely be pitted against Shane Mosley was received with derision both here and abroad. There were instant calls for Pacquiao to better hang up his gloves than fight Mosley, who can?t lend a measly glitter to the Pacman legend. Of course, a Pacquiao retirement can?t be worked out in a snap. You don?t clamp down a major world corporation, on which many free-loaders depend for a living and from which countless Filipinos turn to for uplift and spiritual solace. * * * This, indeed, is the reason why there?s this call for his handlers to be strictly discriminating in selecting the next foe for Pacquiao, a priceless national treasure. ?If they succeed in making Manny fight Mosley, then Pacquiao can no longer claim he?ll be fighting for the Filipino people,? advised the respected lawyer-sportsman Rudy Salud. So what would Pacquiao be going for against Mosley? ?Money, what else? Although not necessarily for his own sake,? said boxing scholar Hermie Rivera, a Pacquiao insider. * * * Explained Rivera: ?I?ve been thinking on why we don?t have crusading columnists who are game to the core when it comes to exposing outright crooks gypping their own fighters. I thought about this when I read Bob Arum, in tandem with Freddie Roach, is in town trying to con Manny into signing a deal for a nonsensical Mosley-Pacquiao brawl.? Arum and Roach arrived in Manila Tuesday morning to attend Pacquiao?s birthday bash. ?Arum?s insistence of an early May fight (Pacman/Mosley) is a blatant admission of his failure to convince his once proud fighter (Mayweather) to fight for Top Rank?s stable, having abused his cash cow as per Floyd Jr?s own charge. Pacquiao deserves Floyd Mayweather Jr., and nobody else,? Rivera continued. Rivera said ?this is the fight they should make happen, the honest-to-goodness Thrilla Part 2. If not Pacquiao-Mayweather, forget it.? * * * Correction, please. The hard-bound book presented to the public during the press conference for the Antonio Margarito fight in Texas last month was actually the Manny Pacquiao autobiography. Pacquiao held it aloft with both hands, a gesture that should make the book break into the upper deck of sales charts world-wide. I made a mistake. In my previous column, it was mentioned that PACMAN?Behind the Scenes with Manny Pacquiao, by the accomplished author Gary Andrew Poole, was presented to the public during the said press con. * * * My apologies to Pacquiao marketing people. All I can say is that the Manny Pacquiao autobiography should also be a thrilling read. We have no idea if the Pacman auto-bio is already available hereabouts. What I learned yesterday was that there?s no need anymore to work a deal with National Bookstore to make the masterpiece on Pacquiao by Mr. Poole available on paperback. ?It?s already here, they can pick it up at Fully-Booked outlets,? said my son Chino yesterday, before he caught the first plane out to Jakarta to cover the Azkals, newest pride of the Philippines. I was also told Pacman Behind the Scenes has broken into the Top Ten best sellers list in the US market. I have thanked Mr. Poole for making the Pacquiao legend tangible for us, through his insightful, thrilling prose in the tradition of Truman Capote.
