By Reni M. Valenzuela
This must be mere hearsay.
Having disappointed the fans in his trilogy bout against Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao is in for another fix and twixt that would surely disappoint again his legions of followers upon learning the odd “news” if the “news” are the actual facts.
On November 12, 2011, with all the distractions that bothered Pacquiao, It was a common knowledge that the Filipino sports icon apparently lost himself in a very small place called boxing ring. Pacquiao groped helplessly to find his genuine form all throughout that fight with the Mexican “Dinamita,” yet to no avail. Therefore he yielded much of the rounds to Marquez to “win” the contest by majority decision, courtesy of blind masseurs, of course.
But going into the same ring this time versus the unbeaten but lesser pound-for-pound showman in the person of American Tim Bradley two weeks ago, and Pacquiao having made to believe that he would score big anyway (truly he did except in the “official” scorecards) to run with a convincing unanimous decision, I heard that Pacman deliberately made himself “lost” in a way foreign to the game plan strategized by his team and apart from the knowledge of his chief trainer. How could Pacquiao do such to boxing?
Unbelievable! But what about reading some “unfamiliar” Pacquiao body language during the fight and immediately after “Dessert Storm” was announced the winner?
Since Bradley was considered to be an easy fight for the still vibrant and young 33 year-old Welterweight champion, I heard that few concerned “influentials” privately begged Pacquiao to temper his power and not go all out hitting Bradley with full force of his aggressive instinct due to the possibility that Bradley might not be able to recover from Pacquiao’s fatal left knock-out booms that have battered and broken giants and vultures in just the past three years, straight to the hospitals nearby for treatment and emergency precautionary tests.
On top of that rationale, it was argued that there is no better boxing update which would lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. to fight Pacquiao soonest than the observation that “Pacquiao is on the decline or has declined as a boxer.” Floyd Mayweather Jr. should stay motivated to face Pacquiao even after the Bradley fight but which would otherwise be remotely probable and negate Floyd’s confidence had Pacquiao demolished Bradley “his signature-way,” I heard. Therefore the potentially most exciting and richest boxing match in history keeps swinging and blending good.
Has Pacquiao truly waned in power and skill as the People’s champion?
Or, could it be the “drama” is part and parcel of the grand conspiracy to sell even much more wildly and in wholesale packages to the remaining few equally wild “crazy preys” for the second time as an inept “official peddler” organization soon orders a rematch?
But that one I just thought and didn’t hear.
renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com
