There’s the Rub
Postscript
By Conrado de QuirosMy first thought was that they were text jokes, and if so the joke was on them since they had just texted someone out of the country. But no, they weren’t jokes at all, they were perfectly serious.
My first thought was that they were text jokes, and if so the joke was on them since they had just texted someone out of the country. But no, they weren’t jokes at all, they were perfectly serious.
HE WAS a big lean copper spring, tightened and retightened through weeks of training until he was one pregnant package of coiled venom… And the spring, tormented with tension, suddenly burst with one brazen spang of activity.”
There’s only one reason Manny Pacquiao should not retire immediately after this fight. That is to take on Floyd Mayweather early next year. That fight falls through, he should hang up his spurs, or gloves, and ride into the sunset or fade into the pages of legend.
This Filipino boxer carried a nation’s faith and expectations in his gloved hands. Under the bright lights of the London Olympics, little big man Mark Anthony Barriga walked to the boxing ring at the ExCel South Arena 2 and, in one fight, gave his country a shot at athletic redemption.
“Age,” said Bob Arum, trying to explain away the blindness of the two judges who saw Timothy Bradley winning against Manny Pacquiao, “is a factor in performance and Exhibit A is myself. I know that at my age (81), I can’t concentrate as well as I did when I was younger. Watching a fight, a 12-round fight, and concentrating over three minutes for 12 rounds really is an exhausting experience, if you’re really looking to do it right.”
I did not watch the fight but saw after lunch on ANC that it was into the 12th round, meaning, the predictions that Manny Pacquiao would walk over Timothy Bradley had gone wild. Before the fight, some of our boxing experts were so sure the fight would not go the distance. Then CNN said Manny [...]
What really happened on the evening of June 10, 2012 in Las Vegas was a welterweight title fight that was just too close to call. With multi-title holder Manny Pacquiao’s caliber as a super-skilled boxer, it wasn’t surprising that not a few people, particularly the two judges at ringside and this letter-sender, saw it as [...]
I’m still terribly pissed off by it and won’t let go of it without a, well, fight.
Since Manny Pacquiao often uses religious lines as guideposts in his present life’s journey, allow me to begin with this reminder: The glory of resurrection was preceded by a slow, agonizing and, worst of all, humiliating walk on the road to Calvary.
I strongly agree with Jess Abrera’s cartoon in the June 11 issue of the Inquirer. The real winner of the June 10 Pacquiao-Bradley match is boxing’s No. 1 promoter Bob Arum. Manny Pacquiao’s loss was clearly a scripted match, Pacquiao’s loss was designed to set the stage for a rematch in November, where Bob Arum will make more money. It seems that Arum believes that he can put all the world’s boxing fans in his pocket. Well, not all, especially us Filipinos.
Manny Pacquiao lives in a world different from the uncomplicated one to which he’s accustomed. In fact, he shuttles from one world to another. In politics, he flits from one party to the next; he has abandoned the constituency that refused to send him to Congress and has moved his address to that of his wife. Far removed from the poverty of his youth, he has joined the glitzy world of show biz and, like the billionaire philanthropist that he has become, gives away millions of pesos without blinking.
The comments that followed Tim Dahlberg’s article on the Pacquiao-Bradley fight in Yahoo Sports spoke of the incredulity of the public. This came out immediately after the fight so the reactions were raw and spontaneous. And honest. Except for one or two who lauded the decision, the rest were furious.
