MANILA, Philippines — Box, don’t run.
This remains the overwhelming people’s call for Manny Pacquiao, the People’s Champ.
Of course, this should not be taken to mean that Pacquiao tends to run from a fight.
Never. Running away is definitely not in Pacquiao’s screaming fight vocabulary.
In fact, the Pacman is one of the bravest, if not the fiercest, boxing greats to come out of a busy, unforgiving Pinoy sweat shop.
But the call of the day is very clear: Don’t jump in and join the silly political race.
This was the resounding message from those who sincerely cared for Pacquiao when he was booed (for the first time) during the Moment of Truth fight promotion at the Cebu Sports Complex on Feb. 24.
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OK. But, come to think of it, how come these same fans were rendered mute and dumb after hometown bet Z Gorres was declared a split loser on points despite a scintillating stand against defending WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel that same evening?
Your reporter here, who scored that WBO title fight at ringside, had Gorres the winner on points despite the drastic two points deducted from him by the over-eager referee in rounds 10th and 12th.
Sportsman Tony Aldeguer, who bank-rolled the championship promotion, had to check the rebel in him and merely told the referee he won the fight for the badly beaten Mexican champ.
Eric Gomez of the Golden Boy Promotions openly declared that Gorres won clearly in his card.
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You can bet nobody out there in the filled stands had expected the inexplicable ending.
Everybody must’ve felt greatly cheated.
Meanwhile, out there in his quiet Quezon City nest, lawyer-sportsman Rudy Salud had tried to follow the progress of the Gorres title bid with the help of one friend at ringside.
Salud had been told Gorres was starting to dominate, winning seven of the first nine rounds.
However, the final text to Salud was brief, straight to the point: “Nadaya, Gorres got robbed!”
This was the prevailing feeling among fans and experts alike.
There were crying claims that a boxing robbery had been perpetrated by a Mexican band right in our backyard.
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Salud, founding secretary general of the World Boxing Council, was on the phone Monday to assure fans they had every reason to feel confused about the fight result.
Without much hesitation, Salud offered the observation that Gorres was partly to blame for his failure to win the world crown.
Why? Because he did not do enough and left the final result in the hands of the judges, Salud explained.
That’s hard to believe. Gorres appeared sharp and was scoring clearly for most of the fight, before fading in the final three rounds.
Yes, he was even very exciting at certain points, Salud said, but he often tarried and instead counted his lead.
How was that again?
Gorres would often pull back, release the accelerator, once he felt he had scored enough points in a round.
No, Salud continued, Gorres may never be able to score a stoppage the way Pacquiao did, but the call was to keep on punching, fight hard, no matter what.
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Box, don’t count, that’s the core of the Salud sermon.
Well, Gorres could indeed be faulted for resorting to accounting, instead of strictly punching, out there.
However, Salud would not refute the ringside claim that the referee helped greatly in upturning the final result.
The second point deduction, in the 12th, when all Gorres did was clinch, was definitely unmerited, Salud said.
Gorres had to save himself from a knockout in the 10th and a draw, Salud maintained, would’ve have been a decent decision.
All told, the Moment of Truth ultimately turned into a moment of untruth.
And, strictly speaking, the conduct of the championship that tragic night was one big step backward in the bid by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) to legitimize itself and join the prizefight mainstream together with the WBC, WBA and IBF.
