Why this Pacquiao fight is unique

By Alex P. Vidal

“Boxing is serious. It’s not a game. Just one punch-change life.”—Gennady Golovkin

STARTING when he “angered” President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte, Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, 42, lost a lot of followers who were mostly Duterte die-hards.

These sycophants are now ready to dump Pacquiao as a politician but not totally as an athlete.

Hence, in his 12-round unified world welterweight tussle against Errol Spence Jr., 31, on August 21 at the T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, not all Filipinos will root for him unlike in his previous matches where almost 95 percent of the Filipinos all over the world cheered for him win or lose.

Some of those who would want to see Pacquiao’s destruction from Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) aren’t in favor of his purported plans to run for president next year; they are mostly those who have committed to support Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is expected to run for president under the administration ticket.

These Duterte supporters think if Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) will lose, his political bargaining chips will ebb; the “humiliation” won’t help prop up his chances in the presidential derby.

Nobody loves a loser, they might chorus.

 

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While watching the duel on their TV screens on August 21, some of the Duterte loyalists will no longer be as passionate to wish for a Pacquiao victory compared in his past performances where they ran berserk and rioted if Pacquiao was “cheated.”

In the political arena, the Duterte loyalists view Pacquiao as a charlatan if not a demagogue blinded by ambition and bitten by a false pride.

In the fight arena, he is a hero who has brought countless honors to the country earning millions of dollars by pulverizing world class pugilists in America since capturing his first world title, a WBC flyweight belt in a shock KO of Chatchai Sasakul in Thailand in December 1998.

Pacquiao himself feels he no longer enjoys the all-out support from some Mindanao voters now pushing for Inday Sara’s presidential bid.

Either this will embolden Pacquiao to give his very best to beat the younger Spence to prove his critics wrong, or it will demoralize him and affect his performance.

Definitely he will carry this heavy psychological baggage when he goes up the ring and attempt to topple the WBC and IBF tiaras off the head of the New York-born black champion known as “The Truth” and who now resides in Dallas.

But some neutral analysts think Pacquiao, because of his vast media exposure and extraordinary ring exploits, will route Inday Sara in Mindanao, except in Davao City, in a fair and square election if they will collide in 2022.

What makes Pacquiao’s fight against Spence Jr. unique is some Filipino fans don’t care anymore if he will win or lose.

What many fans want is for the 8-time world boxing champion in 8 different categories to retire now and focus in public service if he really intends to help the poor as he has been telling all and sundry, or completely eschew the dirty world of politics, enjoy his hard-earned ring earnings and preserve his legacy as a great ring titan.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)