FRIANT, CA—His surname uniquely synonymous to heart, spunk and a never-say-die attitude, Bobby Pacquiao made a name for himself by knocking out pre-fight favorite Carlos Navarro in the seventh round Friday in the ESPN2 Friday Night main event at the Table Mountain Casino here.
Pacquiao, the younger brother of elite fighter Manny, fought with slippery shoes that was heavily taped in the early goings, turned back the former two-time national amateur champion Navarro and snatched the WBC Continental Americas super-featherweight title.
In a bizarre fight wherein the Filipino was supposed to have scored a knockdown in the sixth round but got penalized for a low blow instead, Pacquiao summoned all his might and stuck on a devil-may-care fight plan that focused on his opponent’s body.
He fought like a skater trying to keep his balance in the first two rounds until coach Justin Fortune thought of an ingenious idea of putting tape on both shoes to put a little traction on Pacquiao’s feet.
Banging Navarro’s body with devastating hooks whenever he had the opportunity, Pacquiao found an equally able Fortune who subbed for Freddie Roach in the corner while an unnamed last-minute interpreter translated impromptu instructions.
“Masaya ako dahil nabigyan ko ng karangalan ang bansang Pilipinas. Talagang pinaghandaan ko itong laban na ito at ibinuhos ko lahat ng aking makakaya,” said a jubilant Pacquiao after the fight.
“He had one heck of a fight. The kid showed a lot of guts and even on short notice, we pulled through,” said Fortune, Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning coach. “I didn’t even get the name of the Filipino interpreter, who worked in the corner of one of the boxers in the undercards. He gave us a lot of calm and discipline.”
Roach and Manny Pacquiao didn’t make the trip back to California to add firepower to the corner as both were stuck in New York. The elder Pacquiao had to attend to deposition proceedings in the court case he filed against his former promoter Murad Muhammad but was constantly on his cellular phone monitoring the blow-by-blow action.
In a battle of two southpaws, Pacquiao’s jab made the difference as Navarro’s left eye started to get swollen-shut in the sixth round even as Pacquiao kept a relentless attack to the body. The ploy worked as Navarro took a knee in the early goings of the seventh round due to exhaustion and pain but the referee did not give the American a ten-count, claiming Pacquiao hit him when he was on his way down.
A minute later, Navarro just could not answer the bell as he absorbed his fourth loss in 31 fights while a sizeable local crowd of Filipinos as well as true-blue Manny Pacquiao fans whopped it up.
The win was Pacquiao’s 24th (12 KOs) against 11 losses and three draws. It also gave a measure of vengeance for Filipino fight fans who finally saw the conqueror of ex-champ Luisito Espinosa go down on his knees.
“Sana tuluy-tuloy na ito,” said Pacquiao, who lost in his last fight in Thailand against Phafrakorb Rakkiatgym by a ninth round KO.
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