We owe it to him

“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.”

What arrant nonsense.

To begin with, that proposition is subverted by the fact that Jerry Roth who scored the fight 115-113 in Pacquiao’s favor is 71. Of course you may wonder why he saw Pacquiao as leading by only two points, but that is quibbling.

Quite simply, whether you’re 21 or 71, there’s no way you can see that fight as having been won by Bradley. Duane Ford and CJ Ross simply did what Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo liked doing to this country in her time, which was to commit an atrocity and dare the country to do something about it. Bastusan, as we put it in Tagalog. That fight wasn’t close. That fight wasn’t controversial. That fight wasn’t rocket science. That was a no-brainer.

Which was what a review of it by the WBO brought out. I don’t know that the result of that review was to be expected, but I do know that if it had been otherwise, it would truly have spelled the end of boxing. For the five “internationally renowned and respected judges” to have affirmed the decision of Ford and Ross would have been to commit rape, or murder, twice over. Indeed, for the five “internationally renowned and respected judges” to have come up with a less than unequivocal decision would have dug an even deeper grave from which boxing even as a zombie could never crawl out of.

All the reviewers called it a win by Pacquiao. One judge had it at 118-110, two at 117-111, one at 116-112 and one at 115-113. Which was how the wire services and boxing organizations saw it, though they had it by wider margins. Which was how the boxing fans saw it. Which was how the world saw it.

Does all this restore balance in the cosmos?

Not really. Though a moral victory, the WBO’s review carries no sanctions for the erring. Arum himself has been at pains to press his view that the judges’ decision was an honest mistake, as shown by his perorations on age above. WBO president Francisco Valcarcel himself says it stays and won’t be reversed.

A friend of mine gave me an insight into why there is absolutely no chance of a reversal. Can you imagine, he said, what would happen to all the bets that were made if the WBO reversed the decision? It would throw all of Las Vegas into a turmoil. How would the “losers” now, which include a good deal of our congressmen who threw away millions of taxpayers’ money on Pacquiao, get their (or our) money back, never mind claim their winnings? Lawsuits would be flying thick and fast, the one thing Las Vegas, which has the highest unemployment rate among US cities today, cannot afford.

What does the future hold for Pacquiao?

I maintain my position that he should quit while he’s ahead. He has nothing more to prove. He won over Bradley, a fact everybody knows, which has just been validated by the WBO review. Of course Pacquiao himself is currently making noises about giving Bradley a rematch and leaving no doubt about his conquest of him this time around. But that sounds a lot like his hangers-on, chief of them Chavit Singson, speaking through his mouth. He’s their favorite milking-cow and another fight with Bradley guarantees recovering what they lost, if not amassing a new fortune. He has already shown that he can take on Bradley with eyes closed, and the judges this time around would be predisposed to give him the win even if the fight doesn’t go as planned. So, nothing to lose.

Except for Pacquiao. Another win over Bradley won’t give him added luster. And it could only drive home the point that his glory days are over. As one boxing commentator pointed out, if he couldn’t finish Bradley after Bradley twisted his foot from dodging a flurry of punches, he  may be slowing down. The Pacman of a couple of years ago would have killed him right there. The slowing down was already patent with Marquez. There’s no sadder spectacle than a sports hero pushing it past his prime. Look at Ali. Look at Parkinson’s.

The way I see it, Pacquiao should leave himself with just one more fight. Not with Bradley. Not with Marquez. Not with any rising star in the horizon. Only with Floyd Mayweather. That is the only mountain left to climb. That is the only story left to finish. The two greatest—and aging—fighters of their time finally meeting in the ring, the two fastest—and aging—guns in the West finally facing each other in the dying sun.

Of course that’s not likely to happen. Not with Pacquiao’s “loss” to Bradley giving Mayweather yet another excuse to dodge him. Which leaves Pacquiao with the option of hanging up his gloves. Pacquiao should listen to his mother, Dionisia, rather than the company he keeps. The first has his welfare at heart, the second only their pockets in mind. Mayweather continues to avoid him like the plague, Pacquiao should seriously consider retirement.

Let’s give the guy a break ourselves. I know we’d like nothing better than to see him go on to more conquests, more titles, more honors. Well, we’d like to see him—and ourselves—to live forever too, but that’s not quite the way life works. He’s already done us proud. He’s already gone boldly where no Filipino boxer, or indeed citizen, has gone before. Do we have to treat our heroes as shabbily as we do our OFWs, heaping praise on them lavishly while flailing our whips on them cruelly? Let the guy have a future to look forward to. Let the guy have a life.

We owe it to him.