General Admission
Knockout is Pacquiao’s only chance
By Al Mendoza
IT is crime break today in the country.
That’s because Manny Pacquiao has work to do.
When he fights, the entire archipelago stands still.
Thieves, drug pushers, riding-in-tandem killers and even rapists always pause to watch Pacquiao fight.
Evils behave at noon, mixing with unwary angels to cheer Pacquiao on in poblacion plazas for free viewing of the Fight of The Century.
So today, fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, Pacquiao makes it a zero crime from Dagupan to Dapitan, from Mangaldan to Maguindanao, and from Sual to Zulu.
Mayweather is the favorite because of two things.
One, he is bigger and taller and arguably the best defensive fighter today.
Two, he is unbeaten in 47 fights.
No fighter has ever hurt him seriously since he turned professional in 1998.
He is also called Pretty Boy because his face has remained unmarked in his 17 years of fighting.
In contrast, Pacquiao’s five defeats stain his otherwise impressive mark of 57 wins against two draws.
But Pacquiao’s 38 knockout victories were massively impeccable as they were thunderous and brutal.
In his last 9 fights, though, Pacquiao has not won by knockout.
He even lost twice.
One was on points marred by controversy.
The other was by knockout that came when he was way ahead on the judges’ scorecards.
Pacquiao was clearly the winner in 12 rounds when Tim Bradley was given a split decision victory in June 2012.
In December of that year, Pacquiao, leading on all scorecards, was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez with a merciful tick left in the sixth.
“Don’t be sad,” Pacquiao said after that defeat. “I will rise again.”
Eleven months later, he was back.
He battered Brandon Rios for 12 rounds en route to a unanimous decision win in November 2013.
After scoring two more convincing unanimous decision victories over Bradley in their April 2014 world welterweight bout, and Chris Algieri in November 2014, Pacquiao was ready to face Mayweather.
Suddenly, all that knockout pain inflicted by Marquez was gone—even highlighting his last triumph by decking Algieri six times.
Thus, going into today’s richest fight in boxing history that could gross as much as $500 million, Pacquiao appears ready to reclaim his throne stolen away by Marquez in 2012.
In this historic bout where all records had been smashed, Pacquiao is assured no less than $80 million to Mayweather’s $120M—both purses the biggest in boxing lore.
Before, during and after training, Pacquiao keeps saying—very confidently even—that he will hand Mayweather his first ever defeat.
“Just relax,” a constantly smiling Pacquiao told his supporters just hours before today’s fight. “Christ is with me and He will make me win this fight.”
I wish Pacquiao could sneak in one hell of a haymaker to blow the lights out of Mayweather.
For, if the fight would go the distance, even Christ might be of no help.
This time, I hope to be wrong.
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