Pardon us if we succumbed into the fancy of highlighting Manny Pacquiao and Rey Bautista only in last Sunday’s fight as little was known that Bryan Villoria will also fight parading the national colors.
So we wrote last Sunday that it was a double struggle for both the Pacman and Boom Boom in a fight card dubbed as Double Trouble. Indeed, it was a fight for survival for both Pacquiao and Bautista.
For Pacquiao, his victory earned him a title in the boxing world once again (otherwise his boxing career will start declining at the age of 26) and redeem himself from his defeat in the hands of Erik Morales early this year. For Bautista, his win in the eight-round fight will be his pass to enter the international boxing limelight and earn his millions at a very young age of 20.
* * * * * Seeing Bautista, who was introduced to be from Cebu City, Philippines, climbed the ring left us no doubt that he could make it against his Colombian foe. In fact, the sportscasters were still at a loss how he earned the monicker Boom Boom.
Of course, they only came to realize why Bautista has that monicker when the third round came. With a little past one minute into the ring, Bautista unleashed his fistic bombshell right into the very head of his foe who apparently fell into limbo for about ten seconds and ended up in the hands of the referee as they waltzed on the canvass.
Now they know why Bautista is Boom Boom.
* * * * * Then came this unexpected Filipino compatriot who paraded into the ring with the Philippine flag in addition to the national color emblazoned in his wardrobe.
Bryan Villoria has been reported to be a Fil-Am but when he climbed into the ring last Sunday morning, there was no doubt that he is a full-bloodied Filipino. And he proved to be more devastating than Bautista by knocking off his opponent well within the first round only.
In his victory speech, Villoria almost sang the national anthem by speaking in Tagalog although raised in Hawaii.
* * * * * Pacquiao’s victory via a six-round knockout on Hector Velasquez was only an icing on the cake for the triple feat of the Filipinos at the Staples Center last Sunday. The Pacman could not loose that fight. Freddie Roach handpicked Velasquez to mint a victory for Pacquiao en route to a rematch with Morales.
Unfortunately for Morales and to the dismay of many Filipino boxing aficionados, an underdog Zahir Raheem who climbed the ring like a king beat him by points. In effect, the defeat of Morales diminished the thrill and grudge in his rematch with the General Santos City pugilist on Jan. 21 next year.
Whatever, the double struggle of Pacquiao and Bautista last Sunday ended up into a triple feat for the Philippines. Looks like a knockout on the impeachment complaint too.
