Pacquiao has nothing more to prove

By Herbert Vego

“I’d like a rematch,” Manny Pacquiao, 46, yelled after his fight against defending Mexican WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, 30, which ended in a draw on July 20 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

So, will there be another “last fight”?

One recalls that he announced his retirement after losing to Cuban Yordenis Ugas in August 2021, around four years ago.

Why a rematch?

To quote him in his after-fight media interview, “I want to leave a legacy and make the Filipino people proud.”

But Pacquiao has nothing more to prove. He is the only boxer in history to win twelve world titles in eight different weight divisions.

To be frank, it’s all for the money. By conservative estimate, he must have earned more than one billion pesos from that fight with Barrios. No other Filipino boxer has seen that much money in a lifetime.

So, if he badly needs another billion, why not try again?

“The risk of permanent injury continues to hang over his head like a Sword of Damocles,” wrote our concerned friend and sports writer Alex Vidal.

It is ironic that all his championship fights have unfolded in foreign soil. If Pacquiao really wants to leave another “legacy,” why not fight his last fight at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City?

It has been 65 years since a Filipino champ, Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, won the world super featherweight title on March 16, 1960, by knocking out the defending American world champion Harold Gomes before a crowd of 30,000 at the newly built Araneta Coliseum.

It was in the same local venue that world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali bested Joe Frazier in the well-promoted “Thrilla in Manila” on October 1, 1975, in effect promoting our tourism industry.

It’s now your turn, Manny.

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WELCOME BACK, TESDA RD TJ TAMAYO

WELCOME back to Iloilo City where you belong, TJ.

TJ is our good friend Toni June Tamayo, who has re-assumed his original assignment as regional director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Region 6, after seven years of being away to serve other regional assignments.

It’s a wish that has come true.  He is back in his native region for his pre-retirement assignment.

Indeed, he hit the ground running with a five-day Capability Building Program for TESDA Regional Staff in the Visayas Cluster.

TESDA-6 has partnered with JD Bakery Cafe for collaboration under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs which are aimed at promoting sustainable livelihoods through skills training, entrepreneurship, and self-employment opportunities.

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ERRATUM ON FIRST FILIPINO PHOTOGRAPHER

THIS corner apologizes to Frank Villanueva, author of the book on first Filipino photographer Felix Laureano, “From Bugasong to Barcelona,” for inaccuracies in my previous column.

Villanueva graduated from UP Diliman in 1969 with a BA cum laude degree, not UP-Iloilo.

His research interest on Felix Laureano began in 2010 in collaboration with Fr. Policarpo Hernandez, OSA, of the University of San Agustin.

He received a photo of Laureano from Maria de los Santos sometime in 2015.

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MAYOR RAISA SHOWS UP

IT was a big surprise to employees of MORE Power when Iloilo City Mayor showed up at the distribution utility’s control center. It was to know whether everybody there was safe while keeping the city energized regardless of stormy weather.

She showed interest in monitoring the workings of high-tech equipment that monitors all facilities within the coverage areas, and what’s being done to detect and solve electrical emergencies in the shortest possible time.

“Maghalong gid kita kag mangin alerto para sa kaluwasan sang tanan,” she reminded her audience.