Pacquiao decides who will win

By Al S. Mendoza

WHILE you are reading this, either the Pacquiao-Barrera fight is over or just about to begin.

Whatever, read on. 

I wrote this column in advance, exactly two days before today’s fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

As usual, before the fight, I was asked to make a prediction: Pacquiao or Barrera?

Without sounding brash or a know-it-all guy, my answer was: Pacquiao will practically decide who will win the fight.

I said that because as the convincing winner of their first fight, Pacquiao should find no problem repeating his knockout victory over Barrera in 2003 in San Antonio, Texas.

Ah, that fight.

On that fateful day, I was the only one from among four TV panelists on RPN9 who picked Pacquiao to win. By a knockout yet!

And it happened. 

Just when everybody (except Pacquiao’s mother and me) thought Pacquiao would be beaten, Pacquiao kayo ed Barrera in the 11th round in a match that should have been stopped as early as the ninth round. 

I say that because Barrera, going to the ninth, appeared practically helpless and virtually defenseless from the brutal blows of Pacquiao.

And to think that Pacquiao was then a mere slugger.  No footwork. No finesse. All brawl, no boxing. Just the plain bang-bang type of a fighter.

Four years later today, Pacquiao has improved a lot, metamorphosed into almost an absolute, all-around pug.

He can jab, hook, uppercut and dance. He can duck, weave and throw combinations In short, he is no longer the one-dimensional fighter – the old one-armed bandit that we so lovingly attach to fighters like  George Foreman and Mike Tyson.

Now, at the risk of being called a KJ, I say Pacquiao can decide to lose the fight today if he’s looking at a third fight with Barrera. 

Needless to say, a third fight would spell more money for Pacquiao – as in the Pacquiao-Morales  trilogy  in  November 2006 that netted the Filipino boxing icon a bonanza of dollars (some say Pacquiao pocketed no less than $20 million in that fight alone).

Thus, a Pacquiao win today would easily wash down the drain at least another $10 million dollars for the Pacman, an amount that could be derived from a Pacquiao-Barrera III in 2008.

In short, a Pacquiao win would not only produce a debilitating 2-0 count in favor of the Pacman but, more importantly, that the victory would practically end Barrera’s career. Barrera’s 34 already.

Get the drift?

Now, if Pacquiao decides to defeat Barrera – which, I will always insist, he can do it with ease – the only motivation I see in him doing that is his true love for country.

Add his pride and ego.

An extremely proud person, and one obsessed with heroism, Pacquiao can be also all at once a heel and a hero.

He can be this one moment, that in the next moment. A Jekyll & Hyde syndrome.

As I was about to end this column last Friday, October 5, the phone rang. 

“Pacquiao or Barrera?” asked a friend.  “Quick! They’re waiting for my bet.”

“Pacquiao,” I said. “Within five rounds, Barrera will be knocked out.”

“Thanks,” he said.

       Click!

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)