The Philippines has a national treasure, but forget about Imelda Marcos’ shoes. Manny Pacquiao is the crown jewel.
The Pacific nation’s extraordinary love affair with a 130-pound fighter goes beyond anything ever witnessed by his trainer, Freddie Roach, or even Bob Arum, who was on the front lines of hero worship during his days as Muhammad Ali’s promoter.
“Manny is bigger in the Philippines than Ali was here,” Roach said.
A stretch? Maybe not. Ali was controversial during the turbulent 1960s. History has made him a beloved figure. During his ring career, Ali was a dangerous man on both sides of the ropes because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and the change of his name from Cassius Clay. If politicians of the day didn’t condemn him, they kept a safe distance.
Pacquiao (40-3-2, 31 knockouts) is dangerous, too, but only to Erik Morales (48-3, 34 KOs) on Saturday night in a compelling rematch at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.
Filipinos can’t get enough of him. Politicians, record producers and almost every segment of the island nation have embraced a fighter with a story that is humble and uniquely Filipino, even – or perhaps especially – in defeat.
A photo after Pacquiao’s narrow loss by decision to Morales – two points on each of three scorecards – last March provided a poignant summation: A Filipino flag flew from a crutch, not far from the ring where Pacquiao’s blood flowed from a cut above one eye and down his face like tears. There was no way to stop the blood.
Yet, Filipino faith in Pacquiao was not shaken. If anything, it appears to have grown stronger, perhaps because in Pacquiao, Filipinos see their own resilience and ability to come back from defeat.
A sure sign of that faith is already arriving in Las Vegas. Mayors of seven Manila suburbs plan to be at ringside in seats somewhere near the husband of Philippines President Gloria Arroyo. The Filipino legislature isn’t meeting late this week. Too many legislators are in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao almost seems oblivious to the hero worship and its burdens. Either that, or he just doesn’t express it. He loves to fight, and he has been in plenty of them.
One of the best Pacquiao stories to emerge this week involves his boyhood. He ran away from home as 12-year-old. He found a stray dog that apparently cared more about him than his parents did. The dog and Pacquiao finally came home, he said through a translator, to a father who had been drinking. The drunken dad got mad and ate the dog. Pacquiao left for good.
Roach loves the stories about the agile, quick Pacquiao, whose Filipino popularity is defined by a market for his rap single, The Fight Is In You. Sales are at a reported 500,000 and climbing.
“And I don’t know if Manny can even sing,” Roach said
But the fight? It has always been in him. Pacquiao moved into the lap of luxury, the suite life, this week at The Wynn, a new Las Vegas hotel. Roach wouldn’t be surprised to see him curled up in the corner, asleep on the floor. Pacquiao, Roach says, sleeps on the floor at his home in Mindanao, an island in the southern Philippines.
“Five guys sleeping in one room,” Roach said of training camp in Pacquiao’s home a year ago. “I was the only guy with a bed.”
It’s more than just furniture that’s missing. Roach said Pacquiao’s house – hut – has no plumbing.
“You pour a bucket of water into the toilet to flush it,” he said.
But the absence of convenience is a small challenge. Pacquiao, a practicing Catholic, grew up in a region hit by violence linked to Muslim rebels.
Roach said he was warned not to go.
“I was never threatened,” said Roach, who believes he was protected by Pacquiao’s popularity. “Manny is called the national treasure.”
