The Loss of Manny Pacquiao

FIGHT OF THE CENTURY Mayweather (left) and Pacquiao (right) in a fight for the ages?

WHEN FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. HANDED Manny Pacquiao what seemed to be the latter’s humbling retirement (via unanimous decision), many of us are wondering, was that the last of the Pacman we rooted for in recent years? My best guess would be it was his last. I think that would be it for Manny Pacquiao, his swan song. I just hope that he will not rot himself in politics even further like some of us thought he might be. But then again, he is Manny Pacquiao after all, whether he loses his next fight or makes another appearance at the Jimmy Kimmel Live; his place in that Hall of Fame is already secured. 

I hate goodbyes, in the first place, it doesn’t sound well if you listen closely. But Pacquiao left the MGM Grand that evening like a wet puppy, it almost looked like he will never step foot on that hallowed ring again like he used to as an undisputed pound-for-pound king several years back. Though it seemed like yesterday when he disfigured Margarito’s face into a pulp, now he looked more like a dispirited fighter at the twilight of his career.  

Pacquiao’s recent fights had been anything but Pacquiao’s. It was as if after that devastating loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth installment had Manny retreated from those brawls and opted to emphasize mercy than going mercenary in the ring like he once was. If Pacquiao is considering retirement as one of his more pressing options, I think this might be the time for him to do so, and save a better part of his legacy as one of the most exciting boxers of his generation, if not the greatest. Better to exit the game while you still can.

Often been called sweet science, courtesy of its passionate gamekeepers, only in boxing has that description been given credence despite its bloody outcome at times. And in Pacquiao's last fight (May 2), we witnessed that same science in front of us, only this time we are at the receiving end, making it bittersweet to some. Mayweather simply outboxed, outwitted, and even outplayed Pacquiao like an amateur almost to a point of betrayal, that there was not much left to do after that except speculate and even accuse the two boxers of selling out. But that is what boxing is, it refuses to become a science, save for its sweetness, notwithstanding, if we merely based it on power or speed, or popularity for that matter, at the end of the day, those who played the game well played the game.

Pacquiao, for all his efforts, simply had fallen short of his promise to give a better fight. We know what Mayweather can do, as if it’s not obvious enough to the many, given his inability to produce a barrage of punches like Pacquiao’s, but that the latter simply had no answer every time his opponent sticks out his shoulder when he tries to land a punch on him. At various instances in the fight, you could readily see a distraught Pacquiao at a loss on how to overpower Mayweather by forcing the issue and to no avail, even resorting to that arm injury as the thing that did him in. And with that, I feel sorry for him. I am a Pacquiao fan since he made a beating out of Barrera at the Alamo, but I think he may have miscalculated Mayweather since day one, and when he did it was too late for him to adjust.

Maybe it’s about time we take heed of Dionisia’s plea that his son should retire, preferably later this year. Manny has done enough already, there really is no point anymore of trying to prove something out of that long boxing career. He has nothing left, I think, in his tank, not as a boxer per se but as a Manny Pacquiao, who used to crush opponents into oblivion. It would be quite fatal to consider him as the Manny of old when he could no longer put a visibly shaken Algieri down in spite of the latter’s limited boxing arsenal. His fight with Mayweather, sad to say, came too late (and too little perhaps) when he was just a shade of what he once was, no matter what his training camp would say that he is in the best shape of his career. His fight showed otherwise, and Mayweather, with his almost clinical approach to boxing, went on to capitalize on that. I never thought I would say this, but Manny should hang his gloves for good.  

I might be hurting some nerves in here, no disrespect to Pacquiao, but Mayweather came out of that fight as the better boxer. He understood the game better than anybody, even better than Bob Arum. He sized up Pacquiao unlike anyone who came across the famous southpaw, and he delivered it with ease, keeping Pacquiao at bay from the time they step onto to the ring until the last sound of that bell. It was as if nothing happened. The science of Mayweather’s game is that he makes the actual fight the easiest portion of the deal, the hardest part of which is the negotiation, the brass stacks just before the bout. How Mayweather duped Pacquiao into that sweet web is essentially a science only he can pull off. Maybe Mayweather is saying something that we simply refuse to acknowledge.

But I will still root for Pacquiao if there is indeed a rematch, which I doubt given Mayweather’s obsessive attitude of being undefeated. He will do in his capacity not to have that rematch at all cost, perhaps even increasing the ante just before the fight, complete with all the random blood testing and the spies he has to unleash, if necessary, to monitor his opponent, like going to war as he attested after his fight with Pacquiao.

The problem, however, is that Pacquiao no longer has the clout to match Mayweather’s ability to draw a much bigger fight (after this, of course) unlike before. Pacquiao in his capacity should win at least two mega fights to be able to match that take Mayweather has. He has to raise the old Pacquiao again to have another shot at Mayweather.  

But that is asking too much for Manny. His recent arm surgery can be debilitating as he goes about trying to secure a rematch with Mayweather, unless Arum could strike a deal that would shortcut the entire process, and if (again I seriously doubt it) Mayweather is indeed intent of proving further his point that he is the best, more than Ali or even Pacquiao, nonetheless. I hate to say this, but Pacquiao lost his chance to get the best out of Mayweather, and eventually came out empty-handed in that much-touted fight of the century. This is all downhill for Pacquiao from now on, at least from a boxing standpoint.  

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts. I should definitely remember that day as probably one of the saddest for the country since the devastation brought about by Typhoon Yolanda. There was this silence that could not be explained, a look on those faces that seemed to indicate that there is a passage of some sort, a sad interlude that could never be repeated, that quiet mess when one feels something not quite right. And it was aggravated all the more when Pacquiao revealed after the fight that he had to go through an injured arm even before he could step onto the ring. It was like some giant rock had fallen out of nowhere and we all feel flat and dead when it was all said and done.

Nevertheless, it was quite a ride for Pacquiao; and quite a ride for us, too. From nothing into something as he repeatedly said just before the mega fight. Now is the time, however, to throw in that towel and move on. For all of his exploits, Pacquiao is one of a kind, the Henry Armstrong of his era; a Renaissance man on and off the ring, the only 8-division world champion, a feat that likely will stand alone in that boxing pedestal.

Let Mayweather brag about his own place in the billing because Pacquiao’s is of a different deal, and he can only close that by retiring ASAP. There is no way Mayweather would put his legacy at stake again like he did last May, that’s the only thing that makes him who he is, and to put that across Pacquiao the second time around would be quite daunting to his undefeated reputation. Conversely, it would be so anti-climactic if Manny loses another fight. That loss to Mayweather might be the final nail in the coffin for him, but losing your last fight to a fighter of Mayweather’s caliber is much more graceful than losing a split from a regular one. And if that happens, I don’t know where it’s likely for me to feel better.

photos: zeenews.india.com