He faced two opponents whom experts tabbed as past their prime, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez, and even though he won, he failed to knock out either of them. And somehow, this lessens Pacquiao’s luster.
This is, of course, unfair to Pacquiao; he shouldn’t be expected to score sensational knockouts each time he steps into the ring. But when one carries the hopes and dreams of almost a hundred million Filipinos, expectations tend to be unfair. That he continues to win while serving as a goodwill ambassador for the Philippines to the rest of the world, while tied down to his commitments as a politician and a celebrity in the country, is amazing.
And maybe that should be enough. Maybe we don’t need the sensational knockouts like we did in the years past.
Because we only have a finite amount of time to spend with Manny Pacquiao, the boxer. Even he admits that he only has a set number of fights left in him — perhaps a mega-showdown with Floyd Mayweather, finally? — before he hangs up his gloves. Right now, as it is, the lure of politics, showbiz, and other ventures is eating into his time as a fighter.
Now is the time to cherish Pacquiao, because we will only have him as a boxer, for so long. After that, who knows if we’ll see someone like him in our lifetimes?
source by Jaemark Tordecilla, InterAKTV
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