Tomorrow Philippine time, the dream match or “Fight of the Century” between the Filipino People’s Champ Manny Pacquiao and American champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be held in Las Vegas with millions around the world watching it unfold on pay-per-view Tv or online.
For Pacquiao, this would be the peak of his legendary career, the Mt. Everest of all the matches that he’s fought over the years that saw him beating future Hall of Famers Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales and Miguel Cotto.
For Mayweather, the fight may finally put to rest all those nagging questions and doubts about his courage and fortitude to battle Pacquiao whose masterful domination of De La Hoya in Dec. 6, 2008 certified his qualifications as the one man capable of challenging and matching up against him, perhaps the one man who can finally put a blot on his undefeated record.
Pacquiao is going up against Mayweather at a time when the country is caught up in the tragedy of Filipino overseas worker Mary Ann Veloso.
The Pinoy champ and lawmaker was among those who called on Indonesian president Joko Widodo to spare her life.
Whether Pacquiao can lift up his countrymen’s spirits after the tragedy with a ring victory is something everyone hopes for.
He will be fighting , buoyed by the hopes and prayers of the whole country on his side as he steps into the ring with Mayweather.
As for Mayweather, well, at the very least he made good on his word to fight Pacquiao.
It took several years of waiting. He had made sure that the Pacman wasn’t as sharp a fighter as he was in the early part of the millennium when he was knocking out greats like Morales, Antonio Margarito and De La Hoya.
Though Pacquiao’s defeats of Chris Algieri and Timothy Bradley were sufficient to prove that he’s far from being washed-up, the Pacman’s knockout loss to his rival Marquez and the stunning split decision win by Bradley in the previous years left many fans wondering whether Mayweather finally agreed to fight Manny with the belief that the Pacman is no longer invincible.
This is no time to engage in “what-ifs” as in “what if Pacquiao and Mayweather fought each other in their prime?”
Boxing, like any sport carries with it an element of chance.
Any advantage can be overturned with that one shot, that one punch that comes out of nowhere and becomes a game-changer.
Every Filipino will be watching the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight with high expectations.
Win or lose, we know that Pacquiao will hold his head high and show to the world that the Filipino is world-class and can stand with the best of them.
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