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Philippines, 21 Dec 2025 |
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Because Comebacks Matter: Pacquiao Fights for Us All By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Wed, 16 Jul 2025  Art of Jun Aquino. When Manny Pacquiao enters the ring on July 19, 2025, at 46 years old, it won’t only be Mario Barrios standing across from him. Something greater waits there too. It’s the weight of memory, the specter of Father Time, and the quiet return to something that still holds meaning. To most, this will look like any other comeback. But if you’ve followed his path— if you’ve watched how he carried himself long after the lights dimmed— you already know. Yesterday, the 13th of July, in a quiet corner of Wild Card Gym, Pacquiao had finished a hard session ending his training camp. No crowd. Just the sound of leather and breath. Jason “Jhay Oh” Otamias filmed him during that moment. Manny looked up and said something soft, as if speaking to no one in particular: “We need to live every day like it is the last.” He was thinking of the late Chino Trinidad. To Manny, Chino wasn’t just a reporter. He was a friend. One of the first to give him a voice. Back in 1995, it was Chino who introduced him to the public on Blow-by-Blow. In the early stages of his legendary career in journalism, Trinidad was an Executive Producer early in the early years of the fistic extravaganza. That was the moment Manny stopped being invisible. He was still just a teenager then— thin, unknown, trying to make a living with borrowed gloves. But Chino helped tell the story. PROUD FILIPINO! Pacquiao’s legacy endures. Father. Husband. Philanthropist. Titles in eight weight classes. Fighter of the Decade honors. Time in the Philippine Senate. If the story ended here, it would be more than enough. But why choose someone younger like the Aztec Warrior, someone who hasn’t yet seen the wear of time? It’s not to reclaim glory. It’s not to chase what’s past. Something in him still moves. And it leads him back to the ring at MGM Grand, Las Vegas. Some fighters come back for recognition. Others can’t quite let go. But Pacquiao isn’t reaching backward. He’s answering something still alive in him. He trains like the work still matters. Wakes up ready. There’s no show in it. No act. He’s simply staying close to the thing that always gave him purpose. This doesn’t look like a farewell tour. It feels like someone walking through a familiar door, quietly, without needing to explain why. 
Pacquiao looks to the past to see his future. That’s why this moment lands differently. However, some critics will shake their heads. Say Pacquiao may be overextending himself. Say he should rest. But those voices have never had to walk away from the one thing that made them feel whole. They’ve never had to quiet something that kept them going. Thirty Filipino fighters paved the way, from the early 1910s, nineteen-twenties, thirties to the beginning of WW 2. Most never got the endings they deserved. Pancho Villa, who lit up the 1920s, died a hundred years ago on July 14, 1925— just 23 years old. Clever Sencio never returned from a ring in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kid Dencio Cabanela’s footwork dazzled Manila and Australia before fading into silence. They walked the same road. But it ended too soon for them. Just maybe, Pacquiao can carry their memory atop the ring come July 19th. It may not be fair to look upon a boxer for inspiration, however great he may be, but Pacquiao doesn’t just give us answers through his example. He gives us a reason to keep fighting and secure our own legacy. Each of us, in our own way, has lost a piece of who we were— sometimes even been forgotten along the way. We’ve set things down, walked away, told ourselves the chapter was closed. But sometimes, something stirs. And we wonder— could we pick it back up? His match with Mario Barrios isn’t a finale. And let’s not call it an encore either. It’s a quiet response to a question that’s been following him for years. Just like a writer opens an old notebook. Or a dancer walks back onto the floor. We all have something we think about returning to. It’s been one hundred years since Pancho Villa last stepped through the ropes. A century since one of our greatest gave everything he had— his brilliance, his courage, his fight— and never had the chance to return. Pancho Villa— like Benjamin Gan, Pablo Dano, Eleuterio Zapanta, and Ceferino Garcia— left us too soon, but not without lighting the way. Now, Pacquiao picks up where time once stopped. Not just for himself, but for all of us who still believe there’s more to give. 
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Emmanuel Rivera, RRT.  |
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