MILLIONS of Filipinos from all walks of life erupted in a frenzy with Manny Pacquiao’s victory that, according to a boxing writer of the Web site Ring Talk, “it may have moved the earth a little bit,” with all jumping going on.
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The only low point of “The Battle” was the choice of the artist, who sang the Philippine national anthem. Jennifer Bautista was not only unknown, she sang off-key to the chagrin of the Filipino throng. In contrast, Latino star Jon Secada of the “Just Another Day” fame, was all class in his rendition of both the “Mexicanos, al Grito de Guerra” (Mexico’s national anthem) and America’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
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A nasty text message from a prankster circulated around the metropolis yesterday at about the same time that Pacquiao began his rematch with Morales, announcing that the Pacman lost by KO in the eighth round. Many people actually believed the text message, most especially those who had no means of verifying the news. This included a driver plying the Rivera-Raon route in Sta. Cruz, Manila, who was actually so upset, that he was planning to go home early and call it a day. But when he was informed of the good news by a Standard Today reporter, he became so ecstatic he decided to give everyone riding his jeepney a free ride.
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Speaking of text messages: This one also found its way into a lot of cellphones: “Nanalo si Morales, na-announced na sa CNN. Hindi daw siya nahirapan sa kalaban niya. Mabuhay si Morales — ang bagong presidente ng Bolivia!”
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Ten of the so-called 12 experts interviewed by the Web site Sweet Science picked Morales to win the rematch. Only two — Jesse K. Cox and Amy Green — predicted a Pacquiao victory. The rest of the pack, namely Mitch Abramson, Matt Aguilar, Robert Cassidy Jr., Rick Folstad, Patrick Kehoe, Joey Knish, Zachary Levin, Scott Mallon, Bob Mladinich and Jonathan Morgan, will have to eat their words and brace themselves for a deluge of hate e-mail from Pacquiao fanatics.
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Which brings us to Pacquiao’s lovely wife Jinkee, who may have to consider fortune-telling as a vocation after accurately predicting that the Pacman will win by way of KO in the 10th round!
