ONE MORE night (isang tulog na lang) and we have with us the supposed sports blockbuster of the year.
I refer to the Pacquiao-Morales fight set for tomorrow (Saturday in the US), in the 130-lb, super featherweight division in which nothing is at stake but prestige and honor for both boxers.
Manny Pacquiao, our hero the last five years or so, remains the favorite to beat Erik Morales of Tijuana, Mexico, at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I have yet to see, hear, a Filipino say Pacquiao will lose.
Either an anti-Pacquiao thinks he could be lynched by Pacquiao fanatics or be branded a traitor if he comes out in the open.
The experience of Hermie Rivera is still fresh in the mind.
Back in 2003, Hermie Rivera, who as manager produced two Filipino world champions in Luisito Espinosa and Morris East, picked Marco Antonio Barrera to defeat Manny Pacquiao.
Hermie and I, together with Ed Picson and Quinito Henson, were then in the TV panel of Print this story Send this story Write the editor View other stories
Solar Sports covering the Pacquiao-Barrera fight.
Openly, Hermie declared his choice of Barrera. I chose Pacquiao as I had always done. Ed and Quinito withheld their picks.
When Pacquiao won-by an 11th round TKO-Ed and I immediately saw ourselves getting flooded with text messages, mostly critical of Hermie.
Said one text message: “Where’s the address of Hermie Rivera? A hired arsonist is on his way to burn his house.”
Said another: “Hermie Rivera should stick to what he does best: Manage boxers.”
Said yet another: “What will Hermie Rivera predict next, the weather?”
Boxing is cruel. Just one mistake, you die.
That is why when Hermie Rivera wrote me a letter early this week saying he has no prediction in the Pacquiao-Morales fight, I was hardly surprised.
Must be that he wants to avoid the trauma-infected backlash of the Pacquiao-Barrera fight in 2003.
But just between you and me, fellas, I know that Hermie Rivera is for Morales, whose record of 47-2 with 34 knockouts (not 38) is as awesome as Pacquiao’s 39-2-2, win-loss-draw card with 31 KOs.
Unlike Pacquiao whose two setbacks were by KOs, Morales has never been knocked out and the Mexican’s twin defeats were merely on points against Barrera.
If Morales wins-God forbid-Hermie Rivera might just come out openly and suddenly brag about his secret prediction.
That, too, wouldn’t be a surprise-if it should happen at all.
