ON Dec. 8, 2012, Manny Pacquiao lost by knockout.
To any boxer, a knockout loss does not only hurt.
It is the most painful of all.
It is insulting.
It is ego-smashing.
It numbs the spirit.
But amid disdain, Pacquiao was undaunted.
?Do not worry,? he said to the world. ?I will rise again.?
Eleven months later, in November 2013, Pacquiao kept his promise.
When everybody, including almost his own mother, believed Pacquiao has become history, the only eight-division world champion battered the massively-built Brandon Rios from beginning to end. He never gave Rios one round in scoring a unanimous 12-round victory.
In that one-sided fight, it appeared Pacquiao was not the man who suffered a horrifying sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez almost a year back.
That defeat that sent his wife Jinkee in hysterics saw Pacquiao lay motionless for what seemed like eternity, face down on the canvas.
Marquez had landed what looked like the strongest right unleashed in this decade, catching Pacquiao dead-center in the face with a mere tick left in the sixth.
Whether Marquez?s shot was a lucky punch or not, a well-time hit or not, that debate had been completely obliterated now?aided magnificently by Pacquiao?s impressive comeback win against Rios.
After defeating Rios, Pacquiao would proceed to exact revenge on Timothy Bradley, overwhelming his tormentor en route to a unanimous decision triumph to reclaim the world welterweight title in April 2014.
Barely seven months later, Pacquiao won again. He decked the unbeaten Chris Algieri six times en route to another unanimous decision victory in Macau.
The last three comeback fights were triumphs of note, dwarfing, in a sense, Mayweather?s own last three wins that he won by majority decision over both Canelo Alvarez in Sept. 2013 and Marcos Maidana in May 2014. In Sept. 2014, Mayweather fought Maidana anew, this time carving out a more impressive unanimous decision victory.
In his fourth fight tomorrow after that 2012 knockout, Pacquiao is seeing himself being suddenly thrust into history.
Not only is he given the rare chance of inflicting Mayweather?s first loss in 48 fights, Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) is also pocketing a record $80 million.
Some guys, indeed, have all the luck.
