General Admission
Pacquiao a once in-a-blue-moon phenomenon
By Al S. Mendoza
SYDNEY—After I’ve watched Manny Pacquiao’s interview on CNN here by Ivan Watson, I thought it more wise to write about Pacquiao’s person than his coming fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The much-awaited Pacquiao-Mayweather bout has been finally sealed for May 2 (May 3 in the Philippines).
The MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been chosen fight venue—because that’s Mayweather’s wish.
Before Mayweather declared the fight was a go last week, Pacquiao’s camp has surrendered every aspect of the fight to The Money.
It became increasingly crystal clear that as days went by, if you disagreed with Mayweather, if you object even to his pettiness, Mayweather might just suddenly decide to scrap the fight altogether.
Had that happened, it would have been the biggest blow on Pacquiao’s career.
Not because Pacquiao won’t be able to have the chance to defeat the one boxer worth defeating to round out his stature as the best fighter of his era.
More importantly, the killing of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight will derail Pacquiao’s stab at glory, money-wise.
Pacquiao’s $80-million share in the fight purse will go down in history as the biggest ever take of a Filipino boxer in particular and of a Filipino athlete in general.
And that $80-M take is just his share from the fight pie.
Never mind that Mayweather is pocketing the lion’s share of $120 million.
That is concededly much bigger of course than Pacquiao’s share but when taken in the context of value, that $120-M steal might appear peanuts to Pacquiao’s take-home pay when that is converted to peso.
Look, that $80-M pay will easily translate into almost 4 billion pesos!
And Mayweather’s $120—while it is huge, indeed—will just remain that: $120M.
Mayweather will spend that $120M in the US while Pacquiao will spend his $80M in the Philippines.
Who would benefit the most then from this fight?
Pacquiao, of course, who might need 4 lifetimes to spend all of that 4 billion moolah.
Name me a Filipino who could ever stash away that much in less than one hour atop the ring?
Pacquiao, indeed, has become one of a kind, a phenomenon that comes along once in-a-blue-moon.
“If you ask me, there will never be a Pacquiao again emerging in the Philippine sports horizons,” said Demosthenes “Bobby” Rosales of Auto Carmakers Corporation, the exclusive importer/distributor of BMWs in the Philippines. “What he has achieved is the stuff that makes legends worth emulating for generations to come.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Now, listen up: I am not talking here about how Pacquiao will fare against Mayweather. N’yet.
That will come later.
Meanwhile, it’s enough that for now, we should learn to appreciate how much Pacquiao has done for the Filipino to be up there in the pedestal of world prominence.
Such amazingly magnificent feat, indeed.
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