If you saw ESPN’s E:60 feature on Manny Pacquiao titled “Thrilla” Tuesday night, you probably know what I am talking about. Freddie Roach is quite the scene stealer- in a good way. Fresh from pulling a toy gun in their San Francisco press conference a couple of weeks ago, Freddie was back at his quick witted best. The topic was how Manny started as a boxer. Freddie said.
“First story I heard was Manny ran away from home because his dad ate his dog. That’s just how poor it is in General Santos. If you’re a slow dog, be careful.” LMFAO. To say it succinctly.
David Letterman could not have said it any better. I’m sure Freddie could easily be a stand-up comic or a comedy writer in another life. HOWEVER- and I meant to put it in all caps- this same quick witted line has some Jedi mind trick type of message about Pacquiao’s upcoming fight against Oscar De la Hoya to it. Well at least to me it does. “If you’re a slow dog, be careful.” Yes Oscar De la Hoya, if you come in as a slow dog against Pacquiao, he will make azucena of you and eat you inside the bright lights of MGM grand.
(Oh, by the way, thank you Freddie for maintaining the stereotype that Filipinos eat dogs on primetime TV. Like I need a few more of my white and latino friends tell me they’re not letting their dogs anywhere near me. Filipinos don’t eat dogs. Just like how Americans don’t eat squirrels. There may be some folks from the south that do but that don’t make up a whole country. Trust me, you won’t see dog chops and barbecued Chihuahuas on any fast food menu in the Philippines. Wink, wink. But for real though?)
Reports from the Pacquiao camp have all been positive. Everybody from Bob Arum to Joe the plumber have been raving about Pacquiao’s training and how he’s actually bulked up without losing his legendary speed. On the flip side, little has been published about De la Hoya’s training camp from Big Bear California. For all we know Oscar may have very well just hired Usain Bolt to help him with his speed training. Speed kills. And like most, I believe speed will be the determining factor on December 6. If Oscar can keep up with Manny, Manny is in for a tough night. But if Oscar shows his age that night, I can’t see how the fight can’t end the way Pacquiao-Diaz did last June. Granted Oscar can pack the harder punch, but in the words of NBA great Kevin Johnson. “You can’t beat what you can’t catch.”
Overall, I enjoyed ESPN’s E:60 episode on Manny. If you watched the full version of the roundtable discussion over at ESPN’s website you will notice how Jeremy Schaap crammed all the information he can about Manny in their discussion and at the end of the day, I give him props for doing a credible job in trying to capture Manny’s persona. Michael Smith couldn’t have been any more condescending *ehem ehem* douche bag *ehem ehem* even if he tried, but I guess it just speaks volumes about how the general public views boxing these days. When asked about what Manny accomplishes for taking a fight with De la Hoya, Schaap failed to point out though that Manny is stepping in the ring with a man way bigger than him. It’s hard to overstate how big a challenge this is for Manny’s career. Just ask all the naysayers and read up on all the reports that have pretty much dismissed this fight as an absolute mismatch. This is the type of fight the sport can market towards the Rocky underdog lovers out there.
Coming from an avid boxing fan, it’s funny and sad at the same time, how clueless really a lot of people are about the game today. And it goes back to the very reason why I think it’s wrong to say this fight is bad for boxing. Boxing needs all the publicity it could get right now. Thankfully, we are seeing current fighters on ESPN primetime again, albeit be once in a blue moon. Any real boxing fan that cares for the overall betterment of the sport should be rooting for this fight. It’s our symbolic token presentation to the mainstream world that boxing still exists. Regardless of the result, we should all be pulling for a great match-up that can finally put boxing back on the map and generate more interest from the general public. Big fights like this are what inspire future Mike Tysons, Oscar De la Hoyas and Manny Pacquiaos just like how a game 7 on TNT between the Lakers and the Celtics inspire future Kobe Bryants and Kevin Garnetts. Didn’t everybody say the New York Giants were going to be brutally murdered by the New England Patriots in the Superbowl last season? We all know how that went.
And I’m not saying Pacquiao should beat De la Hoya for the sport to get something out of this fight, but shame, let them play the games. To shoot it down and ridicule it before the fight even happens hurts the sport more than any of the reasons the same people say about how the fight is bad for boxing. That’s why they play the games, and that’s why you see underdogs beat favorites all the time in any sport. The most important fact in this matter is that this fight has the biggest appeal out of any other fight out there right now. Appeal, not in terms of boxing purists, stuck-ups, snubs and whatever ever have you. Appeal in terms of the general public and worldwide interest. Why shoot that down? Point blank period, when we get more bouts like this, boxing wins.
