Pacquiao more than ready for Mayweather rematch

By Al S. Mendoza

MY prediction for a knockout win did not happen.

Fine.  And I’m sorry.

I know the risk but still, I had to do it. 

Goes with the territory.

That is inherent in a sports columnist:  Predict the outcome of fights.

You don’t do it, you have no business becoming a sports columnist.

It’s a risk you can’t run away from. Cowardice it is called.

You come out correct, celebrate but quietly. 

Breast-beating is a no-no.  Proud people are vexations to the spirit.

You come out wrong, accept it with all humility. 

Justifying your mishit, mistake if you will, is not being man enough.  Always, man up.

Now, to get to the fight.

It was almost a total bore but for the seventh and ninth rounds.

In both cantos, Manny Pacquiao nearly knocked out Adrien Broner, who rarely threw punches.

Two crushing lefts hit Broner—one in the chin real hard—in the seventh and ninth rounds, respectively.

It was a bit of a miracle that Broner survived the shots—especially the one to his chin in the ninth.

What’s more, Broner came out virtually unscathed from the succeeding barrage of punches unleashed by Pacquiao on both rounds.

It can only mean two things.

One, Broner was properly trained considering that he had to shed an excess of 30 pounds in the run-up to the fight on Jan. 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Two, Broner’s age—just 29—was a major factor as that meant he was strong enough to absorb such punishment, especially coming from someone with a record eight world titles in eight weight divisions.

And now this:  At 40, Pacquiao must now be fast treading the twilight zone?

It was not too long ago that Pacquiao had rock-solid power and he virtually just needed one punch to send a foe to dreamland.

Almost with certainty, Father Time is fast catching up with Pacquiao.

While before, his follow-up punches had the same power as the first two blows—1-2 combination, if you will—against Broner, it was different.

I salute Broner for surviving all 12 rounds to prove he is not a patsy.

Well, he is, after all, a former four-time world champion before he had his 38th fight against Pacquiao.

Broner’s loss dropped him to 33-4-1 with 24 KOs, while Pacquiao upped his mark to 61-7-2, with 39 KOs.

And, despite his win coming merely on points (unanimous decision), Pacquiao appeared ready to have that rematch with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

This year maybe?

Anyway, as a parting shot, I may have missed my knockout prediction between the fourth and ninth rounds but, if I may crow a bit, I also said that Pacquiao would win if the fight lasted the distance.

With Pacquiao’s unanimous decision victory—I gave the PacMan a 117-111 score, meaning only three rounds went to Broner—I won a free lunch. 

Fine by me. Bad to be greedy.

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