If last Sunday’s bout with American Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas was to be his final fight, then Saranggani Rep. and People’s Champ Manny Pacquiao could rightfully claim that he went out in style and deservedly so.
Pacquiao’s victory, coming as it did during election season, will no doubt help his chances of landing a Senate seat despite a complaint filed against him at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) by former partylist lawmaker and now senatorial candidate Walden Bello.
Bello’s contention that the fight was an unfair campaign advantage to Pacquiao owing to the free publicity it would generate wasn’t entertained by the poll agency but then was there a groundswell of support to stop the fight?
As it is, we all knew about the loss sustained by Pacquiao in another arena, namely the social political landscape when he made the controversial comment on same-sex marriage that drew the ire of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The fallout from that incident could have served as a counterweight to the buildup for last Sunday’s bout as pre-fight hype was quite lukewarm compared to that Mt. Everest of a match between him and retired and eventually undefeated American champion Floyd Mayweather.
That said, anyone who missed watching the match would have regretted doing so as boxing analysts were unanimous in agreeing that the Pacquiao who showed up in the ring looked like the champion of old—hungry, intense and relentless.
If the two knockdowns sustained by Bradley, including one in which he nearly rolled over on his head, didn’t convince the crowd that he still has it, then Pacquiao can still rest his case.
The accolades are noticeably fewer, but it can be understood that the Filipino people were confident enough that their champion can beat Bradley based on their previous matchups, the first of which ended in a controversial win for the American.
Regardless of the decidedly lower interest in his match with Bradley, Pacquiao’s legacy is already secure and he only has to look forward to a career in local politics and other ventures to keep him busy outside the ring.
And we hope for his sake that he keeps his word and retire for good. Too often we’ve heard stories of retired boxers who climbed back into the ring only to be shamed and outgunned by younger fighters seeking to achieve their own legend.
Pacquiao needs to avoid that fate for he has achieved everything most boxers could only dream of.
Aside from a family who has been with him since the day he first ascended to the peak of world boxing glory, Pacquiao owes it to himself to protect his future as a family man and as someone who brought joy and pride to Filipinos everywhere.
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