GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The mother of Filipino world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao collapsed inside her residence at Barangay Labangal here Sunday afternoon moments after his son got beaten and lost a unanimous 12-round decision to Mexican Erik Morales in Las Vegas.
Dionesia Pacquiao was immediately brought to the Saint Elizabeth Hospital. She is now reportedly in stable condition, but she remains in confinement.
“Nanay Dionesia (Mother Dionesia),” as she is fondly called, was praying hard as Pacquiao was trading punches with Morales atop the ring Sunday.
Dionesia and the rest of the Pacquiao family were so stunned by Manny’s defeat and it seemed they could not accept his fate.
Dionesia said had been going to the church almost every day prior to the bout to pray for his son’s victory, although she refused to watch the fight on TV.
Even when Manny was taking a beating at the hands of Morales, Dionesia was kneeling inside her room seeking divine intervention.
“It’s better that I’m the one taking the beating and getting hurt instead of Manny getting hurt. This is very painful to me,” Dionesia said in the vernacular.
“For every pain he absorbed from the punches of his opponent, I also feel the pain being his mother,” Dionesia added.
Pacquiao took a severe beating from Morales in their super featherweight clash. He had a deep cut above his right eye as a result of a headbutt in the fifth round.
Bobby Pacquiao, Manny’s brother, also lamented the fact that Manny has to undergo a blood test two days before the big fight.
The streets of Gen. Santos City were flooded with people Sunday morninh as they were glued to the television sets watching the city’s favorite son.
When it was all over, after the decision was handed down, Gen. Santos looked like a ghost town.
