The Manila Standard story about ring icon Manny Pacquiao showing early signs of Parkinson?s disease evoked a welter of reactions from many quarters that ranged from ?he really should retire? to ?Manny still has it and why kick the man when he?s down.?
The Filipino ring icon is a source of national pride. Consequently, his health is also a matter of national concern. Manny?s most ardent fans do not want to see him drooling and hardly able to speak.
Pacquiao camp followers are venting their ire on the doctor, the source of the Standard sports story, for his observations the Pacman was showing early symptoms of the dreaded disease that has afflicted Muhammad Ali. When Pacquiao ponders his future, he should picture the sight of ?The Greatest? who has been reduced to a pitiful figure from the talkative, flamboyant fighter he once was.
No, Dr. Rustico Jimenez could not have mistaken trainer Freddie Roach for Pacquiao when he said he saw Manny on TV stammering and twitching his hand. Roach, a former boxer himself, also suffers from a milder Parkinson?s disease.
Jimenez, a neurologist and president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, was cautious to clarify he had not personally examine nor seen Manny up close and could only advise Pacquiao to see brain specialists in the US.
In a kneejerk reaction, Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz now wants to sue Dr. Jimenez for ?meritless and unfounded accusations.? This is typical of American lawyers who can always spot an opportunity for cashing in on litigation. In case Koncz hasn?t checked, it?s not illegal for a doctor to express a medical opinion in this country.
We hope new Filipino ring sensation Nonito Donaire can steer clear of hangers-on, freeloaders and expensive lawyers. But that may be easier said than done. Donaire is also tied up with Pacquiao fight promoter Bob Arum.
The varying public opinion over Manny Pacquiao?s ring future is still raging in the wake of his shocking knockout loss to arch foe Juan Manuel Marquez.
While Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is trying to wring the last dollar from his Filipino cash cow with a fifth JuanMa-Manny duel, there are alarm bells that such a fight could be dangerous. The wives of both men also want them to hang up their gloves in the family mantle. Not so the crowd who are living off Pacquiao.
There are many who want to see Manny exact revenge on JuanMa. They do not want their idol to ride out into the sunset defined by the devastating knockout in the dying second of the sixth round in Las Vegas. These people are mostly those riding on Pacquiao as meal ticket. It?s not their carcass lying face down on the floor after being felled from a Marquez pile driver right. It?s time for these hangers-on to get a life.
There are some who call it a lucky punch. Perhaps it was an act of God making Manny feel the pain he inflicts on his opponents, but a lucky punch it was not. The same sycophants overlooked that Marquez prepared long and hard, then waited for the opening to deliver the punch that would redeem him and end the Filipino Mexicutioner?s dominating decade in the ring. Talks of Marquez taking performance -enhancing drugs should be laid to rest. Steroids had nothing to do with the Marquez redemption.
After a trilogy whose endings never quite settled the issue of who the better man is, Marquez went back to the gym, worked out more arduously and sculptured himself into a body rippling with muscles.
Pacquiao worked out too, but maybe not hard enough. Although women were no longer a distraction, Manny was multitasking in politics, Bible-preaching and TV show hosting.
Much earlier than Pacquiao?s fall, I had already written a requiem on the Filipino ring icon. In a Manila Standard piece in November 2010 titled ?Time to hang up gloves,? I suggested Manny should retire, enjoy his vast fortune and spend quality time with his family. I said that although he had dished out punishment to the likes of Oscar de La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, Manny also took some hard punches that slipped through his defenses. The only way Manny won?t ever get hurt is if he?s fighting a double amputee.
Take that fight with Margarito. Pacquiao crushed the Mexican?s eye socket and sent him to the hospital. Somehow Margarito was able to sneak in a hard punch that almost busted Manny?s ear drum.
Fortunately, Manny does not have to wear a hearing aid piece yet as part of his apparel.
