Retire or rematch makes no difference

By Al S. Mendoza

 

RETIRE or rematch?

Either of the two is OK with me.

If Manny Pacquiao will retire now, fine.

His legacy is intact.

His legend is secure.

His name is etched in granite.

All three can never be taken away from him.

Not even one is for sale.

What price legacy, legend and name?

Pacquiao’s record of 8 world division titles is unprecedented.

It will take, maybe, five lifetimes before it can be duplicated.

Surpass it?  Not in 100 years.

And if Pacquiao retires now, his brain is still intact—seemingly.

He is sane, at least, as shown by his ability to chair a committee in the august halls of the Senate.

He may not be in his best when doing his job in Senate hearings.

But isn’t that expected?

He is a boxer first and foremost.

His being a senator is but a whim of his that became, uhmm, a reality.

He hasn’t bungled his Senate duties—thus far.

I pray he won’t.

Now, if his being a senator would come in the way of his being a boxer, that’s the time for him to rethink his priorities.

Not enough that he employs time management, as was his defense when asked about his shuffling between boxing and attending Senate sessions.

One cannot simply serve two Gods at the same time.

It was clear much of his precious time that should have been allotted to training for the Jeff Horn fight was captured by his Senate duties.

We saw that in Round 9 of his Horn fight.

In that round, Pacquiao had Horn on the verge of a knockout.

But he slackened, his 38-year-old knees not that rigidly strong anymore to back up a two-fisted attack he was known for in the not-so-distant past.

And when we had eagerly looked forward to a strong follow-up in the 10th round, we saw none of that.

The old Pacquiao was gone.

It was gobbled up by another passion—the desire to strut political wares in exchange for what is inherently natural to him: boxing prowess.

Because he is close to 40, he needs to train more if only to revive the old sting of a 20-year-old, or a 30-year-old warrior, perhaps.

But he just couldn’t do that while training for his 68th fight in a career spanning 22 years already.

Too many other concerns distract him now, including his church ministry work where he is also a bible-preaching pastor on Sundays.

And so, his stubbornness prods him to fight again—thus the rematch with Horn in November.

Fine.  Win or lose for him, doesn’t matter.

A win will redeem him from what?

Shame?  Ego restored?

Controversial as it may appear, Horn proved himself the rightful winner by finishing strong and was never a patsy on July 2 as many said in pre-fight banter.

If Pacquiao should lose in the rematch, makes no difference.

It would only serve as validation of Fight One:  The needle of his gas tank now points to empty.

Truth hurts.

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