He was a “failure” in politics. He is not a big time businessman or an entrepreneur and neither is he an intellectual, a civic leader, a crusader or a rebel. In fact, he is a part-time “actor” and a showbiz personality, but his is the most recognizable face in the country he is adored as a “hero” and even perhaps, the most popular and loved Filipino. Every time he is involved in a big-time sporting event and shown live in the country, the country stands still till it’s over to rejoice if he triumphs but mourns if he losses. His name: Manny Pacquiao, the current World Boxing Council (WBC) Lightweight boxing champion. But why is he such an icon and a popular figure in the country when he is just a “boxer”?
Like many other Filipino boxing champions before him like the great Gabriel ‘Flash’ Elorde, Pancho Villa, Erbito Salavarria, Rolando Navarrete and many others who have come and go unnoticed and unheralded, Pacquiao emerged as the answer to the country’s thirst for someone to look up to as a hero. And he is one who needs no scrutiny or be questioned why. Just like Muhammad Ali, the most adored and universally acclaimed greatest fighter ever, Pacquiao is a very religious, kind and humble man who can easily be get acquainted with. And he has the charisma, talents and everything what it takes to be well known, loved and adored.
Better known in the boxing world as “Pacman”, a trademark given by the famous American ring announcer Michael Buffer, Manny Pacquiao is a southpaw, a very strong and relentless fighter and a “knockout” artist whose every fight is action-packed that give fans their money’s worth every time. Although he is not yet the “undisputed” world lightweight champion as there are other claimants in this division, he is already hailed as the best, if not, the greatest and fastest fighter in the world today. At present, he is the most exciting, hottest and perhaps, one of the highest paid and most sought-after pay-per-view or PPV fighters that promoters, fellow boxers, fans and sport writers alike unanimously agree. But are all these accolades enough?
After his masterful and dominating demolition and knockout of champion David Diaz of the US last June 28 to claim his WBC share of the lightweight title, writers already likened him to other past great champions of the trade. Yet despite all his credentials of having decisively beaten all the best fighters in his level which are mostly by kayos and the fact that he has already won four division world titles, not one Filipino or non-Filipino fan or writer has ever said or written that Pacquiao is destined to greatness in the molds of Ali, Joe Frazier and other multi-titled champions like Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and many others. This early, let this writer be the first to say that Pacquiao is in this “bunch” and even sees him as “the greatest fighter after Ali”. Though such opinion may be too early or a far-fetched scenario that many will not agree yet considering that Pacquiao has lots of years still left in him to prove his worth, all indications that he has showed so far, say so.
In the history of the sport, only one man is universally recognized and regarded as the “greatest fighter” ever – Muhammad Ali. Despised by a few as a “phony”, a nut, a heavyweight who can’t punch, a loud mouth and with all the unfavorable descriptions thrown at him, the former Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., an Afro-American 1960 Rome Olympic gold medallist is without doubt, the all-time greatest fighter ever. From flyweight to heavyweight, no fighter can ever equal Ali in every sense of the sport – one with the most excellent skill, speed, brains and guts and the charisma to attract attention. Even long before he was known or heard as a serious contender for the heavyweight crown, Ali who at the time was still known as “Cassius Clay” had already laid his claim to being the “greatest”. “I am the Greatest!” he keeps yelling every time before crowds and to anyone who listens and it did not take long for him to stamp himself as the “real” one.
Installed as an 8 to 1 underdog without any sport writer giving him a chance against champion Sonny Liston in their 15-round title fight in 1964, Clay stunned the boxing world including the champion as he had predicted by forcing him to quit in the seventh. Yelling, “I must be the greatest!” right after the fight, he announced then that he was embracing the Muslim faith and changing his name to “Muhammad Ali”. Though his conversion did not bring much trouble with regards to his career as a boxer, it was his beliefs as a Muslim that brought him trouble with the US government during the time of the Vietnam War. Ali from the start had always voiced out his opposition to the war reasoning out that he was a Muslim minister and that, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong!” And it was his refusal to be drafted into the military that he was convicted of “draft evasion” and thereafter, stripped of his boxing license, world title and exiled from boxing for a while. (To be continued…)
