I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of reading and of hearing that Manny Pacquaio is a low-grade moron.
Sure, I’ve made jokes about how the only thing that kept Pacman out of the sixth grade was the rigors of the fifth grade. And I’ve heard the whispers that you could ask Manny to spell Bob Arum’s first name, spot the great fighter the two “b’s” and he still could not come up with B-o-b. I’ve heard some Filipinos say an adult has to hold Manny’s and when he wants to cross a busy Manila intersection.
Don’t buy it, folks. Since colleague Ricardo Lois and I created www.boxingconfidential lo these five months ago, it’s no secret we’ve been, basically not by design, a very Mannycentric boxing news web site. Our aim was and is to provide solid, fast-breaking news, opinion and commentary on boxing worldwide, to get down but not dirty, old-time newspaper tabloid style. What fighter lends his life and times most to tabloid tales, to dramatis personae fitting for a soap opera? Emmanuel D. Pacquaio, that’s who.
I mean, “Stormy Weather” could be Manny’s ring entrance music. His extended Pacman entourage rivals the manic Mayweather clan when it comes to backbiting and jockeying for position with Bossman Manny. (Come to think of it, all this experience helps a newcomer to the political ring, doesn’t it?)
But, once and for all, let’s dispose of the false belief that Pacman is a mere pawn in pugilism. Because, instead of being a daily dupe, it turns out that Pacquaio is a shrewd and calculating character. Dummy up, fight fans, because not a move is made in Pacland unless the lead dog approves it.
Michael Koncz, the supposed Svengali who delivered Pacman to Arum and Top Rank, was described the other by a Filipiono scribe as “a jobless Canadian.” And you thought that Lois, acerbic John Chavez and the mercurial Marley could be harsh.
The scrivener got it half right as Koncz is a hockey-loving guy from Maple Leaf land.
But jobless? Hardly, as Koncz is the camp coordinator, chief bottle washer and more for Manny. Is he Uncle Bob’s bobo and cabana boy? I don’t know that and neither do you. It wasn’t Arum who took Koncz under his wing and into his confidence first, it was Pacman. He is the white man, yeah, but maybe Manny sees him as the right man to be “on point” for him on boxing matter. Koncz did not get his job from craigslist.manila.
Whenever I saw Manny in San Antonio, Koncz was always hovering nearby with his trusty pen and pad. Give him a whistle and he’d look your typical high school football coach. But the point is that Arum zeroed in on Koncz because he knew the guy had Pacquaio’s ear and a reservoir or trust. You don’t think Koncz enters the Pacman mansion every night at gunpoint, do you? He seems to be a permanent guest at Casa De Pacman.
He’s not a boxing burglar who came in through the skylight at the Pacman Estate.
There’s other evidence that Manny is sly and slick and on top of his details. On Pacman fight night, Top Rank and arena security are given a list, written by Manny himself, which details who is invited into the inner sanctum, the locker room, and also how long they get to stay there.
Fr. Marlon Beof, of whom I will write more later, is Pacman’s spiritual adviser. Pacman’s Padre must be quick with his prefight prayers because, for the Solis fight, the priest was on the dressing room list with a five-minute time limit. You can’t even get in three Hail Marys in that time.
Even Manny’s wife was listed with a time limitation for her good luck wishes in the hallowed locker room.
Folks, I can tell you that Muhammad Ali never made such lists even with the three-ring circus of an entourage that he had.
How about dispersal of money? I can tell you that it was MP who approved the trainer’s check for San Antonio, written by Top Rank, being made out to Justin Fortune. Some say Fortune and Freddie Roach are squabbling, or did squabble, about how that amount should be divided but the key point is that the fighter decided who the check would go to.
At the end of the day, who made the final decision to sign the Top Rank bout contract for the Erik Morales fight? Manny. And who then whipped out his magic pen to ink the Golden Boy promotional deal. Manny. I don’t even know the lawyer, Jeng Gacal, but that’s not his John Hancock on those contracts, is it?
There’s disagreement in Manny’s inner circle about his Congressional run, his ballot box battle with Dazzling Darlene Antonino-Custodio coming up in South Cotabato May 14. Some voices in the “circle of trust” are convinced that politics will be a major distraction and diminish the remainder of MP’s boxing career. Others think and say that Manny can channel a limited amount of time energy to the election and, if he wins, then just be a camero Congressman living off his incredible fame. In other words, he won’t be doing filibusters or chairing serious committees. He won’t have to work at it like Ahnold does in Sacramento. Manny will be sort of a Kindergaten Congressman.
My point is that the final decision, to run or not to run, was made by Manny. And, if elected., I’m sure he won’t be invited to join the Mensa society but he won’t be the dimmest light bulb in the ROP Congress, either.
Manny Pacquaio, Tinker toy manipulated by scheming members of his entourage and nefarious fight promoters?
You’d have to be a low-grade moron to believe that, pardner.
