THE Pacquiao fever rents the air once more as Manny Pacquiao, the only certified boxing star that we have today, fights in America barely four days from now (January 22). The venue of the fight is the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the so-called Sin City of the world because, all year round, it is mostly peopled by gamblers from all corners of the globe.
It is a fight that will enthrall us all anew, it is a fight almost as big in impact as the Thrilla in Manila between Ali and Frazier on October 1, 1975 (Ali won by TKO in 14 rounds), it is a fight that will most likely be the defining moment for the General Santos City-born kid who went to the Big City that is Manila as a 14-year-old stowaway 13 years ago in search of the proverbial pot of gold.
He found more: Besides wealth beyond his wildest dreams (he just bought a jaw-dropping, P6-million Porsche Cayenne), he also gained fame not only here but, like the fabled Beatles of Liverpool, England, the whole world over.
He has become an international celebrity that not only do we see our own big-time politicians and hustlers line up just to see him fight live, anywhere in the world, but also some of the biggest names in boxing as well as a sprinkling of stars from Hollywood.
First it was Pancho Villa, who drew a throng to his side with his boxing exploits in America in the Roaring Twenties.
Next was Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, the man many say is the greatest Filipino boxer of all time, whose reign of nearly 10 years as a world junior lightweight champion remains unbroken to this day.
And now Manny Pacquiao, the wealthiest of them all simply because he came in at the right time — at the right time because boxing has become, like golf and tennis, big-money business. There’s just too much money in boxing nowadays that a boxer having both a pair of killer fists and a manager steeped in the wheeler-dealer, sleazy ways of the con-laced world of boxing can hit the jackpot in an instant — as in the case of Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao is now being handled by an American named Shelley Finkle for reasons only Pacquiao knows. We can only speculate why Pacquiao dropped his former manager, Rod Nazario, like a hot tong, the same way that Pacquiao dropped his discoverer, Polding Correa. As the respected Jimmy Cannon said, “Boxing is the red-light district of sports.” In this game, nothing’s impossible. Good men are perennially attracted to the game, like moths to flame. Con men congregate into the game to try to out-con one another.
Good man, con man, they drop everything and come together to watch a fight, not just a good fight but any fight. It is in boxing that suckers teem.
Thus, we can’t wait to see Pacquiao fight again. With him in the ring, the hurts and horrors of a blighted nation take the back seat — even if only momentarily. Pacquiao has this aura, if not mantra, to lullaby us to dreamland, if not fantasyland, each time he climbs the ring. Everybody expects him to win even when ranged against the best of the lot, such as Erik Morales, so-called Mexico’s El Terible for his durability and seemingly invincible ways.
For a country so divided like ours, Manny Pacquiao has become, like Fernando Poe Jr. in May of 2004 — a unifier.
May God be with him on Sunday morning.
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FASTBREAK. Due to insistent public demand, The Lettermen will perform an extra night on January 27 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. “We were deluged with requests by fans who couldn’t be accommodated on January 28, thus the need to squeeze in one more show,” said Luke Pasiliao of the organizing Solar Entertainment. Solar has really become that big as it is also the lead group in the airing of the Pacquiao-Morales fight on January 22 through ABS-CBN. Dennis Uy comes to mind again as he is the cable/computer genius who pioneered in bringing to our living rooms the concept of the world-renowned pay-per-view each time a big boxing event comes along. Cheers to you, Dennis! Expect the jolly Ed Pamintuan to enjoy every minute of the Pacquiao fight at your Savers this Sunday.
