OSCAR Larios was a beaten man at the end of his grueling fight with Manny Pacquiao Sunday.
He sported a swollen face and was bleeding from two cuts he suffered as a result of the Filipino bomber’s two-fisted attack when the final bell rang at the historic Araneta Coliseum.
But, despite all the blows and the banging that he got for 12 rounds, this Mexican warrior looked like a winner the moment he stepped out of the ring.
Larios earned the respect of the Filipino people for putting up a gallant stand and surviving the onslaught of Pacquiao. He showed the kind of warrior he is, proving to all and sundry he has the heart of a lion.
Even Pacquiao and the rest of his team were all praises for Larios, who kissed the canvass twice only to stand up and resume fighting in both instances.
“Larios came to fight. He fought a great fight,” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s noted American trainer. Pacquiao may not have scored a knockout as expected and as what Roach had wanted his fighter to do, but the fact that the bout went the distance only prolonged the beating of Larios.
And, not only did Larios traveled thousands of miles away just to face Pacquiao in his own backyard, the Mexican fighter indeed came to fight.
Larios landed some big shots of his own and even had Pacquiao in queer street in the third round, hammering the Filipino boxer with right crosses and pinning him against the ropes.
Save for that, it was Pacquiao’s show all the way. His speed and power were simply too much for Larios, who would backpedal and whose head would snap back every time he gets hit.
Pacquiao’s puncher was harder and he punished Larios all night with those bombs that claimed a good number of Mexican greats — Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
Still, Larios refused to go down. He courageously engaged Pacquiao in a slugfest at critical moments of the match, the times he was in danger of getting blown out of the ring with a barrage of power punches. What a warrior.
The 29-year-old Larios, who comes from a poor family in Guadalajara, earned $450,000 for the fight, the biggest of his career. With the huge paycheck, Larios can now start shopping around for gifts to his wife and four daughters before flying back home.
But more than the money, it was his gutsy performance that made Larios richer in the eyes not only of the Filipino people but the boxing world.
“Salamat, Pilipinas,” Larios said after the fight as he thanked Pacquiao and the Filipino fight fans for their generosity and for giving him the opportunity to showcase his boxing skills here in the country, drawing a rousing applause from the Big Dome crowd.
Thank you, too, Oscar for showing us what bravery is all about.
