The Fall of Manny Pacquiao



MAKING A POINT Pointing at the real winner? 

When Manny Pacquiao came out as a survivor of a taxing trilogy against his persistent archrival Juan Manuel Marquez late last year, many people thought that the famous southpaw from General Santos City should consider retirement as his next best counterpart, a graceful exit from the sport that brought him unlimited fame and unbelievable fortune.

Since defeating Eric Morales in their own bloody trilogy almost a decade ago, Pacquiao went on to salvage what little remains in a sport that was abandoned even by its own aficionados and collected it into one of his own, eventually winning titles in 8 different weight classes in a span of less than a decade. Up until then, there was no stopping the power, the punishment and the popularity of the Pacquiao myth, as he elevated boxing to its long lost respectability and relevance. But in his last two fights, courtesy of Marquez and Timothy Bradley (the latter having the best of him in a controversial split decision with 115-113, 115-113, 115-113), Pacquiao seemed like a mere computation, reduced to a statistic, and relying solely on the scorecards to prove a point, a situation that probably calls for an assessment and a little bit of accounting.

Like all of a sudden Pacquiao’s reign of terror inside the ring seemed less imposing like it used to be. Gone are those mind-boggling arrays of punching power and blinding footwork he displayed against the likes of Oscar de la Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito to name a few. In fact, his supposed dominance over Timothy Bradley last June 9 was, by all means, more passive than physical right from the get-go, and that the decision was simply a confirmation of what it was, that the Bradley fight was anything but square even outside the ring. His own controversial win over the venerable Marquez, nonetheless, was just a precursor of a much more controversial set-up against a much smaller Bradley; that the sport he (Pacquiao) tried to bring into respectability is now under suspicion of reverting back to its old ways with him as its latest casualty.

And after what seemed to be a decade of boxing superiority, Pacquiao lost to a lackluster performance against an underperforming foe, such a splitting defeat that could have been his defining moment after struggling with Marquez a few months ago. This time, however, he was at the other end of the rope, just like Marquez did, trying to get his grips on a fight that clearly was his for the taking. Instead, Bradley delivered his promise of shocking the world, and the world was shocked indeed. But it was a fight fizzled with a host of questions and strange undertones only a Pacquiao fanfare could probably showcase. And we should have at least given the benefit of the doubt; the way it ended though, all indications point out that this is a fight that had been found wanting even before it could it make a stand on the scales.

Weighing in



CASHING IN Top Rank's Arum behind Bradley?

You don’t have to be a student of the game, or even a fanatic, to assume that the fight had all the dealings of a business transaction instead of a championship match. And this isn’t just a case of some out-of-nowhere, over-counter, suddenly inspired conspiracy theory to deal with, so as to be able to generate a discussion just for the sake of, well, discussion. Pacquiao’s fight with Bradley was simply a predicate into an even larger contract than what their initial bout could probably take, granting that there is indeed a rematch, but that is something only the well-wishers wish to employ. In the end though, that fight might all be just a part of a scheme (a scam perhaps), that the allegations, the mock (rematch) ticket, the shocking result at the end and even the delay allegedly orchestrated by its promoters just minutes away from the bout all conspired to delimit boxing potentially to its lowest terms.

And what better way to close out this whole mess than by looking into the promoter himself, Pacquiao’s long time representative and Top Rank boss, Bob Arum, during the Pacquiao-Bradley weigh-in a day before the fight. In what seemed to be just a routine for Arum, being accustomed to a lot of big fights in his long, illustrious career as a boxing promoter, somehow declared unceremoniously over an interview immediately after the weigh-in that he is rooting for Bradley (this time) despite being a huge fan of Pacquiao over the years. In what seemed to be, again, just a flippant remark from Arum, admitting over national TV that he’s rooting for Bradley to win the fight only shows how volatile the stakes were at that time when the supposed mega-bout was building its momentum.

The reason why we questioned Arum over his purported “shock” when the results came out; a startling contradiction to what he felt immediately after the weigh-in. And rightfully so, it was not Pacquiao who Arum first approached when it all ended, it was Bradley instead, but was greeted with a brush of disappointment from Bradley, as the latter admitted to Arum that he couldn’t beat this guy (Pacquiao). But what difference does it make? Pacquiao clearly was at the disadvantage in that intricate game of cards initiated by no less than Arum himself. There seemed to be something so slipshod about it, and we really don’t know if he (Arum) was taking this too far, pairing Bradley with Pacquiao for a rematch, which was a little bit overhyped, or setting up a potential Mayweather clash, which had gone stale and overrated for two years now.

But I appreciate Arum’s call for an investigation over the Pacquiao-Bradley mishap. For one, Pacquiao is not just an ordinary fighter. Over the last few years, he has gone from a mere Mexicutioner, who bested every Mexican fighter in the ring into what some others believed to be the greatest boxer there is. And if decisions like this, the one Bradley pulled off (or was it Arum?), somehow derails the Pacquiao freight train, what could possibly become of boxing and the rest of its keepers? Secondly, the business of the sport has finally caught up, judging perhaps from Pacquiao’s last two fights, with the rest of the world. Even celebrities, those who had a transient relationship with boxing, gave themselves up after seeing a potential robbery right before their eyes. But Arum’s call, though suspicious at the very least, is still in keeping with his alleged plan of setting up a much bigger fight for Pacquiao, whether it be a battle with Mayweather or a Bradley rematch that promises to pocket an even bigger paycheck than the first. So it might be safe to say that it was all business for the Top Rank honcho, from the weigh-in down to his shifty call for an investigation, and as a shrewd businessman, he’s simply taking the bets a bit higher this time.

Disappearing Act



UPHILL BATTLE Bradley punching his way through

Perhaps we might be inclined to accept the limitations of boxing from a business standpoint, but Pacquiao’s performance against Bradley was anything but promising as far as business is concerned. I, for one, was shocked at how terrible Pacquiao delivered his blows to Timothy Bradley, an opponent so one-sided, so conventional than the rest of the Pacquiao exploits that it was so hard to understand why Pacquiao almost killed Margarito and offered only a “sparring session” to Bradley all in a span of less than two years from the time he sent Margarito in a hospital. It simply boggles the mind. And it hurts! A lot of instances, a lot of moments in that fight with Bradley where he could just impose himself at will and overwhelm a seemingly lost Bradley in the middle rounds (Pacquiao landed 253 punches as compared to Bradley’s 159), but much to my surprise, and to the disgust of the many, Pacquiao simply cowered under the circumstances, like a politician learning the ways of parliamentary procedure, and eventually letting the judges decide on his fate. But then again fate has nothing to do with it.

And, are we seeing already a glimpse of a declining Pacquiao, a kind of regression that had taken its toll over years of utter punishment and brutal beatings? Probably. But by the looks of it, he was just raising the bar, and raising it with a twist. And that doesn’t mean he had had enough of boxing and the rest of its ingredients, or maybe even taken a back seat in lieu of his newly-found faith in God, he simply regressed a bit from the usual Pacquiao flavor, the one that has dominated boxing for what seemed to be sumptuous gourmet. And it has now become a pattern somehow that there seemed to be a ready excuse before and after his fights, from his domestic woes all the way to his strength and conditioning, as if the whole caravan is slowly hitting the sack.

Time though will tell whether he and Arum had something to do with it. Freddie Roach can only do so much, but at the end of the day, it is still Pacquiao who decides what goes on inside the ring. The romance and the rags-to-riches story that is the Pacquiao selling point is now giving in to the demands of the invisible world of boxing, where everything can be “fixed”, depending on the price. But that’s just my take. It remains a mystery though as to why his fight with Bradley suffered a delay before he could step into the ring. Most would argue that Pacquiao was so glued watching the Celtics and Heat in their Game 7 Eastern Finals that Bradley had to wait for almost an hour before they could slug it out. Even then it is still a lousy excuse for a sports commodity, especially like a Pacquiao brand, to cause a delay to a fight that is much larger, heavier than those big threes of Celtics and Heat combined. Who knows, maybe Pacquiao do have an idea already that he’s going to fall before Bradley, Arum, or maybe even Roach and the rest of the Philippines, that it was his intention to delay the fight, courtesy of the Celtics-Heat game, for him to enjoy the moment one last time before he tries to disappear in front of Bradley in 12 flat rounds.

The Decision

 

NUMBERS DON'T LIE And the winner is...

It left a bitter taste in the mouth. Just like when LeBron James left Cleveland and brought his amazing talents to South Beach, that the derision afterwards was heaping a lot of abomination that causes a nationwide desolation. The Pacquiao-Bradley decision, however, might be that worse as far as the state of boxing is concerned. It might be that fair for a promoter like Arum or a producer like Pacquiao to keep the decision intact, what with the rematch clause that could potentially reinstate its damaging outcome. But to a regular fan of boxing, those who have cashed in on live performances and on pay-per-view, the decision might come in as a slow moratorium to boxing, now that the “biggest fish” in the sport, namely Pacquiao, is succumbing to its bait (hook, line and sinker) by gambling with the decision.

It really was a gamble on the part of Pacquiao, whether he has a hand on this rather tasteless deal or not, the only guarantee he could deduce from this unusual decision is an opportunity to intensify his long-awaited fight with Mayweather. Other than that, this fight with Bradley was a total waste of time. Not to take anything from Bradley though, he is a classy junior welterweight champion and clearly on a league with other great fighters at his position, but I don’t see any indication why he should be given kudos for besting Pacquiao in an uneventful, meaningless challenge leading to a controversial 12-round split decision. In the first place, we don’t know exactly why Pacquiao accepted Bradley’s proposal, and as it turned out, it became Pacquiao’s continuing pariah, from being the best fighter in the world into Timothy Bradley’s mere second billing?

But the good news is that this fight is guaranteed of a rematch. It promises to be more active than the first fight, I guess, but it will be a fight that ultimately produces a linear ending, and that anything close to being a Bradley win would be a total shock more serious than the previous one. In fact, this early we could almost smell of a Pacquiao win no matter what the outcome would be, TKO or otherwise. But I still believe that as a challenger, of which Bradley was before he scored that unsettling upset, he has put up a convincing performance, score a knockout perhaps or simply outpunch opponent, so as to secure a sure win. Unfortunately though, none of that happened with Bradley last June 9.

Suddenly this whole boxing phenomenon is skating on thin ice in the aftermath of Pacquiao’s last two fights. That if the greatest fighter in the world, as represented still by Manny Pacquiao despite having lackluster performances of late, suffers another setback such as the one we all witnessed in less than a year with Marquez and Bradley, then the boxing he (Pacquiao) tried to resuscitate is now slowly and steadily closing in. It would only take a matter time before we could see the last of what a Pacquiao fight really was, exciting yet bloody, punishing yet satisfying (pretty much like masochism), as it recently struggles to make an impressive performance over his two last fights.

Unless we all assume that Arum’s call for an investigation merits a serious consideration for the sport he benefitted out of partnering with Pacquiao, and that Manny’s performance promises to bring back flashes of superb boxing like we used to see in him, then it might be somewhat a waste of time to bet on something that promises to fool even those who simply don’t give a hoot about boxing. And for what it’s worth, Pacquiao’s recent fall and the decision surrounding it might just be one of our own.