(SECOND SALUTE: Sportsman Rudy Salud, founding sec-gen of the WBC, had announced well ahead of other experts that underdog Manny Pacquiao, shorter and smaller than Oscar De La Hoya, would prove oddsmakers wrong. Salud cited previous losing bouts by faded champions, Ali vs Holmes, Leonard vs Norris, Jones vs Tarver, etc, to confirm that De La Hoya, a certified ring legend, would report to the fight a slow, tired, predictable warrior. Salud was firm and sure: Oscar could neither run nor hide from the eternal tyrant called Father Time. Proven right in his pre-fight prognosis, Salud now bats for extra honors to Pacquiao. He said the Filipino superhero should also be commended for preventing the one-sided bout from slipping into a cheap, tasteless mismatch.)
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NO need to retrace the over 80 punches connected by Manny Pacquiao against only four by Oscar De La Hoya in the seventh round.
An unscheduled recount is sure to send boxing purists screaming again in disgust.
The fight was already a brewing mismatch before it could start.
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Pacquiao, luminous in a fiery red get-up, raced and beat De La Hoya to the middle of the ring in the opening round.
Pacquiao pawed, bobbed and darted gracefully from side to side.
Confused, De La Hoya missed with a couple of punches, a left uppercut and a body stab.
Pacquiao, extra cautious, finally found the mark, landing a big shot to the body midway in the round.
He followed up with hits to the head, to the body again.
He then ducked two swinging lefts before the bell.
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Not much action, but the tentative encounter instantly brought out the real De La Hoya.
Once Pacquiao stepped on the gas, landing neat jabs and thudding body shots, the youthful pre-fight mask which De La Hoya had succeeded in parading through his verbal jabs, melted.
Suddenly gone was the great welterweight that De La Hoya had bragged would stop Pacquiao cold.
In its place was a huffing, hurting pretender whose loose muscles visibly sagged.
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Too many punches, in too many nights, in too many rings.
No need anymore to borrow this line from the anonymous poet, maybe the same ringside bard who declared that, since its rotten beginnings, boxing has remained the red light district of sports.
The truth is, there were forgettable moments when the mismatch would teeter towards the hideous.
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Anyway, before they totally forget to give due credit, the promoters should take their hats off to Pacquiao of the Philippines a second time.
Yes, the Dream Match had threatened to be a prizefight nightmare, mainly to fans who came running to MGM Grand expecting an all-time classic.
Pacquiao saved the evening from turning into total trash with a delightful demolition of his helpless foe.
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It?s like this.
Pacquiao indeed trained long and very hard, undoubtedly preparing to ascent a personal Everest.
But once presented with a rusty monument to dismantle, he refused to turn giddy.
He did not gloat.
Pacquiao could have, say, used a bludgeon or an axe to uproot and dismantle the nuisance.
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Instead, he took extra pains and carried out his task very carefully.
The full-house crowd at the MGM Garden Arena raged and roared, crying for a knockout.
Not too quick please. Instead of a bludgeon, Pacquiao used his fiery fists the way a surgeon would operate and inflict the scalpel on a patient.
Sorry, this was no longer Pacquiao the stormy, devil-may-care slasher on the job.
He was sharp, sweetly scientific.
There was none of the patented savagery normally associated with his past knockouts.
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How Pacquiao lent boxing a warm human touch was no coincidence.
In fact, Pacquiao would later bare that he often took pity on the helpless De La Hoya.
After cornering and shaking up De La Hoya, Pacquiao would often stall in his offensive. Of course, this was not out of a sudden attack of compassion and humility.
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Remember that bloody stoppage of David Diaz, from whom Pacquiao wrested the WBC lightweight crown last June?
Pacquiao did bludgeon and batter Diaz to score a ninth-round knockout.
But instead of acknowledging the deafening accolades, Pacquiao stooped, took Diaz?s arm and helped the poor Mexican from the floor.
If they could give an honorary doctorate to a legendary money-maker like Dr. Lucio Tan, what?s stopping UP or UST from similarly honoring Pacquiao with at least a doctorate in humanities?
