Pac Man versus Pac Man. Remember the little, yellow 1980s game console figure that had us 1980s kids and teenagers hooked for hours to the television screen as we tried to avoid getting eaten by those four pesky little ghosts? Now, think about the current Pac Man, the one that has us hooked to the television set for 36 minutes, often less, when he is fending off challengers who unsuccessfully try to corner him, just to get eaten by Pac as easy as a normal person eats a hamburger. If Pac Man (the game) of the 1980s was to fight Manny Pacquiao, I would definitely put my money on Pacquiao, whose artillery has allowed him to run over virtually every fighter that has tried to corner him over the last decade.
To boxing fans, it should be no secret that it would be easier to be on a Manila bound jetliner, tell everyone that Manny Pacquiao can actually lose, and try to get to the Philippines alive than it would be for any of today’s professional fighters to beat Pacquiao. This is not a fan propping view either. Pacquiao has beaten the best that he has faced his entire career, including Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Jorge Eliezer Julio, and Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. Pacquiao has won world titles in three divisions, including, incredibly, the flyweight division. That’s incredible if one checks the number of flyweights who have historically succeeded at the bantamweight division, there aren’t too many of them. Much less so in the junior lightweight division. Pacquiao not only beat the best super bantamweights, but he is on his way to possibly win a fourth world title as a junior lightweight.
Of course, you can say that he did not deserve to win against Juan Manuel Marquez, but remember, it was Pacquiao who put Marquez down three times in the first round. You can, if you will reach way back, bring his defeats by a third round knockout to Rustico Torrecampo, who, with 17 bouts coming in, had a slight experience advantage over Pacquiao, who had ten when they fought in 1995, and to Medgoen Singsurat, a defeat that threatened to end Pacquiao’s career in 1999. You can say that Morales beat him in their first fight, but Pacquiao is only human. Or is he?
After the loss to Singsurat, Pacquiao did like game players used to when Pac Man died on the console game. He pressed return on the bottom and started anew. He was revived. Maybe only in Sugar Ray Robinson can we say we found a boxer who like Pacquiao, returned from the ashes as well.
Pacquiao is revered in the Philippines the way Julio Cesar Chavez once was in Mexico. He is that country’s idol, much like Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfred Benitez, and, later on, Felix Trinidad were in Puerto Rico. It is rumored that the Cardinal in Manila orders all Catholic Church services to be suspended during days when Pacquiao fights, because not too many people will attend service in this Asian group of islands, and, allegedly, also because he himself is a fan of the Pac Man.
Well, if it really is like that, then do not try to find a Catholic Church in Manila on September 16, when Pacquiao and Morales will meet for a third time. I would recommend tourists in that country to not even leave their hotel rooms that day, because Morales is still Erik Morales, and as long as he is named like that, he could beat anyone. In his current career state, however, I would bet against him beating Pacquiao in a third fight. I say that even as my Latino heart usually makes me go for the Mexican or boxer of other Latino descendent as long as their rival is not a Puerto Rican like me.
Another aspect of Pacquiao’s career is that he has defied the logic that a smaller boxer’s prime only lasts a few years. It happens that Manny’s prime has lasted for many years already. And he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get past it either. Like a fine wine, Manny seems to get better and better as he ages. Sammy Serrano was one of the best junior lightweights of his era, actually a personal favorite of this writer. He lasted six and a half years, from 1976 to 1983, as a World Champion, splitting his WBA reigns into two. Serrano, however, did not begin his career as a flyweight. Pacquiao did.
It’s too early to say that Pacquiao will be a great junior lightweight champion like Serrano was. History has shown us that being good at one thing, or, in this case, two divisions, doesn’t mean one will be great in another one. Remember Ruben Sierra, the great baseball player of the Texas Rangers during the early 1990’s? Well, had he had the talent to succeed at something else, we’d be buying his Salsa music CD’s currently, but he didn’t succeed as a Salsa Singer. Madonna was arguably the most famous female singer of the 1980’s, but her career as an actress never really took off. So, who knows, maybe Pacquiao will start slowing down in a year or so. But if we are to look at indications, we can see suggestions everywhere that Pacquiao will be the man at junior lightweight for at least three more years.
That is, unless he decides to move up in weight again should Barrera beat Jesus Chavez. And after September 16, which will be coincidentally the 24th anniversary of the night when Sugar Ray Leonard beat Thomas Hearns in a boxing classic and also, not so much coincidentally as it is convenient, only one day away from Mexican Independency Day, Pacquiao could make up his mind and follow Barrera to the 135 pounds should he beat Morales, who, once again, is still a dangerous rival despite being dismantled so thoroughly in their last bout.
Pacquiao-Barrera II would be a logical attraction. After all, this fight would have a lot of question marks around it. Can a boxer who started at flyweight succeed as a lightweight? Will Barrera, a professional to the core, apply what he learned about Pacquiao in their first fight and use it to his advantage? Will he channel his anger at the facts that Pacquiao beat him, that Pac Man has become the biggest public enemy in Mexico by winning most of his fights against Mexicans and that he made Barrera lose all of his last fight’s purse by beating Morales in the right way? Can lightning strike twice? After all, Pacquiao did come up in weight and beat Barrera in their first fight, and he would be coming up in weight once again for their rematch.
If Pacquiao does get by Morales and Barrera once again, many attractive options remain for him at the lightweight division. He could face Chavez or perhaps Carlos Hernandez.
Regardless, whatever the future has for Pac Man, it will be interesting to see. After all, this is one character who won’t be scared by any ghosts.
