BAÑOC
Last Sunday was a sad day for many Filipinos. Speculations of all sorts from the funny ones to outright stupid, were uttered everywhere.
However, I prefer to dwell on things that have some degree of concreteness. And let me highlight this by quoting a Bible verse to drive home my point.
The Bible says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6: 24).
Some Bible scholars explained that what the passage really means is that no man can serve two masters at the same time. Conversely, you can have the two if there is no conflict of time and you really know time management.
Apply that to the case of the Pambansang Kamao. We might have different opinions as to the real winner of the boxing fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn as the decision of the judges contradicted the result of the Compubox, but we may agree that because of age, the performance of the people’s champ has somehow already deteriorated.
Understandably, many want to advise him to retire from boxing. He has nothing more to prove. His records and honors as eight-division world champion cannot be taken away from him anymore. It will forever be engraved in the history of boxing. What else does he ask for?
The latest contract fight has a clause that if Pacquiao lost to Horn, he could seek a rematch. Clearly, Pacquiao has a choice, unlike Horn where it is mandatory for him to face such rematch, if there is any. So the ball now is in the court of Pacquiao.
The latest news is that Pacquiao is seeking a rematch with Horn. So with his age, his performance has noticeably been different during his prime age in boxing. The question is, what are his chances of winning the fight even if the same will be held in Brisbane, Australia?
Many will give a 50-50 chance to both fighters who will naturally greatly prepare if a rematch will be set. For Pacquiao, to increase the percentage of his chances, he should study and evaluate his strength and weaknesses in his latest fight. He is a veteran fighter, so advising him on this may appear silly.
But we know that even the greatest fighters sometimes overlook the basics.
I have been following the boxing career of Pacquiao. In my own observation, there are several factors that led to his last Sunday’s fate. Aside from his age, it seems that he underestimated his opponent which led him to be complacent in all aspects of his preparations.
While Pacquiao’s priority has been divided between his being a senator and a boxer, Horn was focused as a boxer. While the 38-year-old Pacquiao allocated only two months in his training, the 29-year-old Horn allocated ten months.
While Pacquiao went to Australia a week before his fight which may have led to his failure to adjust to the climate of the place, Horn being a native of the place has nothing more to adjust.
While Pacquiao’s age is beyond his control, other factors are still within his control. Objectively observing his performance, although different during his prime, I could see that he still has the power punches which almost stopped Horn in the ninth round.
Pacquiao should take a look at and do what he used to do during his prime. He has to allocate ample time for his training without interference. He has to strictly follow his training time schedule.
He has to be there in the venue and continue his training therein two months or at least one month before the fight like what he did before so that he can already acclimatize the climate of the place.
So if the rematch would be realized and Pacquiao could give focus on factors within his control, he still has big chances of winning.
In fact, in the boxing history of Pacquiao, every time he fought in a rematch he always emerged as the winner like what happened to Erick Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradly.
That means that he has to sacrifice a lot of things including his duty as a senator, which is not ideal or which may not sit well with not a few of his constituents, the Filipino people. He has to take a leave of absence in the Senate to minimize the negative comments of the voters. Can he afford to do so?
There was a time when many allowed Pacquiao to be a boxer and an elected public official at the same time. However, these days the pressure for him to focus on his legislative tasks cannot be discounted.
I think Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is correct. He has to choose between his being a senator or a boxer. It would be a sad turn of events if the boxer everyone adores would become a distant and faint memory to many or worse, a forgotten politician who committed the mistake of chewing more than what he could digest. I would like to believe that nobody wishes anything of that sort for Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao, who seems to be familiar now with the Bible, may consider meditating on the above-quoted Bible verse.
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