Conspiracy Theory

An article published by one of the Philippine’s major dailies suggested that there is reason for Manny Pacquiao to be happy because the betting odds are inching closer in his favor (subject of my essay in my last post at the Philboxing.com). Let me quote some portions of the report: “He (Pacquiao) must be glad that slowly, but steadily, he’s been catching up on Oscar dela Hoya as far as the odds to Saturday’s ‘Dream Match’ is concerned.” The author reported from MGM Grand, Las Vegas, USA during the press conference for the December 6 mega fight held last Wednesday, Mountain Time.

This is an amazing conjecture. A prizefighter cares nothing about the betting odds unless he is putting his own money on the betting block. He or she may be glad or sad about anything, but I submit that this must not be because of whichever way the odds are moving. The odds mean only to those who play the gambling side of boxing, or of any sport, for that matter.

Nevertheless, that same report has raised my kind of a “conspiracy theory.” I don’t think Manny is concerned about the betting odds. However, I cannot say the same thing for Oscar and, to some extent, Bob Arum and Freddie Roach.

In the days that followed right after the contracts for The Dream Match were sealed and both the Golden Boy and Top Rank camps were loaded with verbal barbs against each other, not a few has said quite loudly that what loomed before us was a mismatch. A fight that should not happen in the first place, some would say. The global mood was reflected in the betting odds. In the first week of November 2008, the betting odds at SBGlobal, one of many online (which means anybody anywhere in the world with money and computer or mobile phone with internet connection can play and place bets) betting portals around, the odds stood at +180 for Manny and -230 for Oscar. This meant that a 100 wager on Manny will win 180 if Manny won the fight; on the other hand, those betting on Oscar will need a 230 wager to win 100 if Oscar came out the winner.

By end of November, the I-will-knock-you-out-Manny-in-five kind of stare down taunting ceased to descend from the bigger dela Hoya. On the other hand, Roach remained relentless in playing down the chances of the Golden Boy. This must have given the money game players their cue (or clue), as the betting mood showed it. The odds moved in Manny’s favor. From +180 it went down to +170. On the other hand, Oscar’s -230 went up to -200.

As fight night approaches, the Pacquiao camp—mainly through Roach and Arum—has not changed its ready-to-charge-and-gore-the-other-guy fighting pose. This is in stark contrast to the projection publicly displayed by the dela Hoya camp. Upon reaching Las Vegas early this week, reporters quoted Oscar as saying that he is worried about Manny’s power, about Manny’s speed, about Manny’s youth, etc. Nacho Berestain, the renowned trainer of many Mexican boxing champions that included Juan Manual Marquez and now working as Oscar’s chief coach, was seen on TV initiating a friendly hug with Roach. At the press conference last Wednesday, Oscar repeated his line: Manny’s youth and boxing skills must be acknowledged, and they are pushing him to climb the ring.

Without necessarily short-selling himself, what Oscar is trying to tell the boxing world is that The Dream Match will not be a mismatch. That the paying fans will get their money’s worth. The message also sends signals to the betting fans: If this is going to be an even match, why bet on Oscar when I stand to gain more by betting on Manny?

Sure enough, millions of dollars must have moved in behind Manny this past 48 hours. As this is written, the SBGlobal boards reflect yet another pull from pro-Manny wagers. Manny is now only +160 while Oscar remains at -200.

The trend established by the odds seems to indicate that the amount of bets placed on Manny has increased at a rate that is faster than that of Oscar’s. It suggest that the odds will eventually level off by the time Philippine politicians get themselves to unload tons of monies—some of which may not be their own. This is what the wagers for Oscar want. This is the time for them to flex hind muscles and get ready to jump for the kill.

The odds work like a currency exchange rate. If they go in you favor, you cash in with a few millions more by just betting at the right time and on the right currency.

As a Pacman fan, Oscar’s body language worries me. His focus goes beyond the fight itself. He is teasing the exchange rate. He cannot do this unless he is sure that he is the right currency.

The Odds Move Closer For Manny

Excitement intensifies as “The Dream Match” between Manny Pacquiao, currently the world’s greatest boxer pound for pound, and Oscar dela Hoya, the biggest draw of the sport, draws near. On the night of December 6, 2008, the boxing world will stop to watch what is expected to be a non-stop action from start to finish atop the ring at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Part of the excitement comes from the generated up-level accounts of bravado as preparations by both camps for the big fight are winding up. Team Pacquiao is confident of winning the fight. Freddie Roach, the coach, has predicted that the fight will end before the final bell. And it will end with Oscar unable to maintain an upright position long enough to survive a career-ending ambush. The rest of the Wild Card staff is not far behind in advancing more or less the same drum-pounding hype.

The Dela Hoya camp is equally upbeat, whose message to everyone since Day One has hardly varied: there is no way Oscar can lose this fight. The Golden Boy himself even went to the extent of saying that Manny will not go beyond five rounds. “I will punish him for dishonoring me,” Oscar was reported to have said. For the many who knew little of how Manny dishonored Oscar, perhaps it would suffice to say that one felt offended by the other when Manny ended up being associated with Bob Arum’s Top Rank instead of Oscar’s Golden Boy Promotions. Manny obliges Oscar by assuring the Golden Boy that The Dream Match will settle the personal issue between the two of them.

So who do you think will come out winning The Dream Match? As the boxing world waits for the suspenseful fight night to come, I can think of three perspectives from which one can hazard a guess. The first comes from what the experts say. The second comes from betting odds. And the third will depend on one’s gut feel.

Boxing experts are not one in their analysis of who is likely to win this huge fight. Majority of boxers who used to be of consequence in their time, including former pound for pound champions Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather Jr, think that Oscar will win. Sports analysts and boxing writers are divided—and sometimes the stories would depend on who is a fan of who. Not a few are decidedly for Oscar. Filipino writers don’t bother with the spin, they just tell us that Manny is the Pacman and the Pacman will win. It is interesting to note that most of American boxing journalists who earlier dismissed the fight as a sham are now writing about it with interest; some are even hinting at the possibility of a Pacquiao win.

Another way of analyzing the fight outcome is to look at the betting trend. We can dismiss what the experts are saying. But we may not dismiss quite easily what the wagers are saying through their bets. The reason is simple: one has nothing but a mouth; the other is putting their money where their mouth is. (Whether that money is clean or dirty would be another story.)

Over the last three weeks, the betting trend has slowly shifted in Manny’s favor, although Oscar remains the heavy favorite. At SBGlobal , the betting odds stood at +170 for Manny and -200 for Oscar. This means a 100 wager on Manny will win 170 if Manny wins the fight; on the other hand, those betting on Oscar will need a 200 wager to win 100 if Oscar comes out the winner. The betting odds previously stood at +180 for Manny and -230 for Oscar.

(In an earlier post I advanced the proposition that it would be in the interest of those who are loaded with dollars and planning to bet on Oscar to rev-up the pro-Manny hype. I believe that an effective Manny projection can create a mousetrap for those who otherwise are not committed to betting on Manny, and a surge in betting funds for him will skew the odds closer to the middle of the probability spectrum. A heavy money game player, say one with a few million bucks, can win big if the betting odds are in his favor.)

The third point for analysis is what we feel about this fight. We concede that Oscar is superior in terms of height, bulk and heft. He will not need to load on his punches to make one a haymaker because of that advantage. Compared to Manny who will need to load on his own to bring his message across, as it were, Oscar will find it easier to keep his balance and attacking position every second of 12 3-minute rounds.

On the other hand, Manny is quick and explosive. Drawing power from a string of Lloyd-certified leg, hip and shoulder muscles, this former mini-flyweight can stun a middleweight. He also has stamina. Manny therefore has what it takes to create conditions for Oscar to make a slight slip or rest a fleeting second to gasp for air. A small opening is all Manny needs to knock the Golden Boy out and send him to his blissful retirement.

Above all, Manny wins because he puts hard work into his craft in ways that are probably unmatched by any professional athlete. He stands out because he has courage; he has self-confidence and he believes in his God. When he fought Marco Antonio Barrera the first time, the betting odds suggested that there was no way Manny could win that fight. Can the Pacman beat the odds one more time on December 6?
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I am a Pacman fan and this post was made to show it. Digital copies of my 148-page book “Who Can Stop The Pacman?” are available for USD 5.75. Order by Paypal through my account at pinoyprofits@gmail.com and I will send your copy to your inbox. Registration at Paypal is free, just click here if you have not account yet. You can also place your bets for the Dream Match online through SBGlobal. Just register (click here) and click to Sportsbook then click again to Boxing.

Watch Out For The Color Of Money

Painted all over the place and on the road leading to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the December 6, 2008 “Dream Match” between boxing greats Oscar dela Hoya and Manny Pacquiao will be the color of money. Watch out for it.

The first sign we saw how this fight promises to be a hit for business-minded folks came when 13,000 or so live tickets for the MGM Grand disappeared in two hours after it went on sale. In fact one can say that no tickets actually went out on sale: both co-promoters of the fight Top Rand and Golden Boy had already appropriated for each of them 5,000 tickets. The remaining 3,000 went to MGM’s box office.

Ticket hoarding like this does not happen everyday. It only happens when businessmen think they are in possession of an item whose price will zoom up in the foreseeable future. Real estate firms buy landholdings today (called land banking) in anticipation of an increase in their values in the future. Stock brokers also do lots of speculative investing.

Shaping up to be another frenetic front for money lovers is betting. We speculate that millions of dollars will go this route as fight night draws closer. And for one to make money in the betting game, he or she should not only place the right bet; the odds are equally important. For instance if the odds are even, a hundred dollars wager for Manny Pacquiao will win that same amount (less a few dollars for service fees) if Manny goes on to win the fight. But if the odds are against Manny—say a 100 wins 200—any bet amount will double if Manny wins the fight. There are variations to the betting game, such as betting on what round or in what manner (like KO or decision) a fighter one is betting on will win.

The whole point is the odds can either increase or reduce your winnings. This can be of little consequence for small bets, but they can be substantial when the amount of bets gets bigger. The current online betting odds at SBG Global put Manny at +180 and Oscar at -230. Thus if you bet 1,000 dollars on Manny and he wins, you will get 800 dollars more. If you bet 100,000 dollars, you get 80,000 dollars more.

Can the odds be manipulated? Certainly. Betting odds, like prices of commercial commodities, react to market forces (supply and demand). A greater amount of dollars chasing after a dela Hoya wager than on Pacquiao will push the odds up in Oscar’s favor, as it is the case now. So what do I do if I believe Oscar will win and I have a million bucks to bet on him? You guessed it right: I will tell the world that “no, contrary to what the boxing experts are thinking aloud, the dream match is not a mismatch after all.” I could even trick Freddie Roach to tell media that Manny will knock Oscar out in 9 rounds. The more credible your propaganda is, the better.

This is done with the end of view of enticing people to bet for Manny. Because when tons upon tons of money begin to pour for Manny at the betting portals in amounts that equal those that are intended for Oscar, the odds will eventually level off. That way, my 230 dollars will win 230 dollars, not a hundred. A million-dollar bet will win a million dollar, not 400,000 dollars or even less. One can be rich because he did his selling right.

So what’s this we hear that the Mexicans are rooting for Manny? That there is now an outpouring of support—and one that is fast shaping up to be a bandwagon—for Manny? If you ask me, could be one shade of a color of money.

Read Manny First Before You Bet

The World Boxing Council exposes its own hidden agenda for making public its threat to strip Manny Pacquiao of his lightweight championship belt. Sometime last week, the WBC through President-for-life Jose Sulaiman, publicly humiliated Manny for charging that he runs away from his obligations, in particular the sanction fees he supposedly owes the WBC. The WBC also attempted to attract international sympathy for itself by insinuating that Manny—with what WBC has described as an arrogant gesture on his part—has made the boxing governing body look like a beggar and a belt mill.

With its public outburst, I think the WBC tried to accomplish two things. One, to project a regalian image before the boxing world, even at the expense of one of its own—the pound-for-pound king no less—champions. And two, to trap Manny into a squeezed set of options where he could end up fighting somebody outside of his choices.

The first objective is really understandable for anyone desiring to preserve itself. In a world where competition has become very intense, and in a sport that has become too money-oriented that is professional boxing, projecting an image where one stands out from the crowd is not only necessary. It is also a duty. And the WBC cannot be faulted for telling everyone that it still is the most prestigious among so many boxing organizations today.

(Incidentally, the so-called alphabet world boxing bodies that exist today emerged from opportunities presented by the bungling and injustices assumably committed by the pioneering organizations, namely the WBC and the World Boxing Association).

But WBC needed something big to project its image for impact. And what better way to present its case than drag Manny Pacquiao to the picture? That Manny has been presented in a not-so-pleasing light may have been totally fortuitous; the point was WBC needed something to re-advertise itself before the boxing world.

The second objective, in my opinion, is a high-risk proposition, and could very well indicate how desperate the WBC might have been in trying to map its future. If there was nothing suspicious about its schemes, one will notice that giving Manny a deadline within which to settle his supposedly outstanding obligations was not necessary. But the WBC did impose a deadline. Why?
If the WBC waited for Manny to make up his mind on whether to defend his lightweight title or not after his December 6 showdown with Oscar dela Hoya, Manny can have options in which the WBC might find itself irrelevant. Therefore it was important for the WBC to force Manny into making a decision before December 6.

I suspect the WBC considered these scenarios:

1) If Manny goes on to defy the odds and dish out a credible performance on December, Manny will have the luxury of choosing his career-ending opponent. This scenario can make the WBC dispensable and irrelevant.

2) If Manny is badly beaten by dela Hoya, he can descend to the lighter divisions where his options are limited and in which the WBC can impose its presence. For example, if Manny is "forced" to defend his lightweight title, he will have to abide by WBC rules. And abiding by them would include meeting the deadline it set a week ago.

It is clear which of the two scenarios would be to WBC's liking. The problem with the strategy that would force Manny to commit to a decision is that it has a high probability rate of going wrong. In an earlier post I mentioned that publicly shaming people in the Philippines (as it is in most of Asia) just doesn't work, and in more ways than one that's what the WBC did to Manny Pacquiao. A belligerent Pacquiao can always do a Lennox Lewis and dump his lightweight belt to the trash can. If he does this the WBC might as well kiss its designs goodbye.

But if Manny complies with the WBC deadline it can mean that his gut feel tells him something about the uphill battle he faces in Oscar dela Hoya. It can expose him as having his own doubts over his chances of coming out victorious in the biggest fight of his career. To his millions of fans edging to place their bets, this is suggestion enough for them to go slow with their money. No amount of braggadocio from coach Freddie Roach can change the will of a fighter who nurses the lightest of doubts at the back of his mind.

This is not to say that self-confidence alone is enough to win battles. But every success in a contest—as in life—begins with belief in oneself and the will to win. Basketball coach Pat Riley once said "that belief, focus and hard work do not guarantee you championships. But without them, you don't stand a chance."
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Sabongero El Mejicano

A devilish design pops under the recent verbal ejaculations of Jose Sulaiman's World Boxing Council. We see this from the publicized statement issued by the WBC as it concluded its annual convention in China last week, complaining that Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has not complied with WBC rules regarding payment of sanction fees. It further warned Manny that the WBC will strip him of his lightweight title if the problem is not resolved within 15 days. The public diatribe had an effect of accusing Manny for being dishonest in his dealings.

I find little comfort in saying this, but with that I suspect there was a Mexican effort to pad another layer of accusation over the one which Juan Manuel Marquez had initiated when he openly expressed doubts Manny ever beat him.

Although Sulaiman may have sounded apologetic in the succeeding statements he issued (part of the plot?), the point was that the damage to Manny has been done. Again I suspect the Mexicans might have studied the Filipino psyche very well, because what Sulaiman did was to hit Manny with feelings of shame, and shame is one of the most compelling values of Filipinos.

Sure—that the Pacman won over Marquez on points in their rematch was something which the judges ruled. It was beyond anyone else’s reach to control. Similarly, that Manny had obligations to pay would also be for his staff to track; the paperwork is not his to attend to. Both Marquez and Sulaiman know these; that they would make a public issue—and a heck of a fuss—about them is amazing. The Mexicans cannot beat the Pacman inside the ring. They probably think maybe they can smother him somewhere else.

And if beating Manny outside the ring is one strategy worth pushing, what better way to push it than having Sulaiman’s weight behind it?

And while we are in the business of shaming people, how about this baloney telling us that the Mexicans root for the Pacman more than they do for Oscar? Super Trainer Freddie Roach, Top Rank boss Bob Arum, Mexican hero Julio Cesar Chavez, among others, may genuinely feel that way, but I see a hand pulling some tricks to create a propaganda out of this. The latest item we heard was that some current Mexican champions have agreed to walk the Pacman to the ring when he meets Oscar on December 6.

It could be a subtle message to shame Oscar before the universe, put him into a ferocious rage and attack Manny like a wounded tiger (I guess nothing can hurt Oscar’s ego more than such a sight). In the Philippines, the sabongero (cockfight aficionado) does the same thing. Before releasing his gamecock inside the ring for a cockfight, he excites his gamecock to point where he gets so mad that he is ready to devour his opponent.

Perhaps this is how the Mexicans think Oscar dela Hoya would become when he meets Manny Pacquiao inside the ring. They want Oscar to devour Manny alive and take revenge for the collective humiliation they have been getting from the Filipino. Indeed this fight can be more than about money; it can be truly personal for both fighters.

But Manny will not run away from any challenge. The plan could backfire. It can make Oscar reckless. One mistake and the Golden Boy will be out. The “Dream Match” has the makings of a night that can put either fighter to dreamland.

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Third Marquez Fight Could Be Pacman's Biggest Paycheck Ever

Bob Arum is right to caution fight fans not to rush with ideas of Manny Pacquiao’s future fights while the Pacman is in the middle of his preparations for the “Dream Match” against Oscar dela Hoya on December 6. There are boxing aficionados who just could not hide the excitement being generated by the Dream Match that some are now suggesting the idea of former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr’s coming out of retirement to face the Pacman next. In 2007, Mayweather outpointed dela Hoya in their “The World Awaits” encounter. The boxing world did not only wait, it bought tickets and pay-per-view access. The fight set all-time pay-per-view records.

The Dream Match also promises to be a hit at the box office. Live gate passes disappeared within hours after they went on sale. If the Dream Match cannot equal the money value of gate receipts generated by The World Awaits, it is only because the latter sold tickets at higher prices.
On the matter of Pacman’s future fights, one may recall that months ago renowned trainer Freddie Roach suggested a Ricky Hatton fight to cap Manny’s boxing career. “After de la Hoya and Hatton, Manny can retire as the greatest fighter of all time,” Roach was quoted as saying. Of course, he said that in the context of Manny’s beating both Oscar and Hatton.

The debate on who’s the world’s greatest boxer of all time is one that is likely to continue provoking fight fans until the end of time. There are those who say it’s Sugar Ray Robinson. Others insist it has got to be Gene Tunney, Archie Moore or Joe Louis. Muhammad Ali says it is none other than him. In the recent ESPN E:60 show that featured Manny Pacquiao, HBO Larry Merchant said that Pacman could be one of the world’s greatest if he does the impossible and goes on to beat Oscar. In an earlier article I posted here, I also said Manny looms as the world’s greatest prize fighter ever. Henry Armstrong and Roberto Duran did leap to weight divisions much higher from where they started as a professional boxer, but I feel that Manny’s rate of success viewed in the context of the over-all quality of ring opposition simply stands out.

On the matter of who Manny should fight next, the public senses the color of money wherever propositions go. But that’s what professional boxing is all about. If the Dream Match can match the money-making machine that was The World Awaits, it would not be hard to figure out how a Pacman-Mayweather fight can generate the same goldmine. A Ricky Hatton fight attracts for the same reason. The guy draws to the fight ring thousands of paying British fans.

I offer another view. Again not to distract Manny from his preparations for the dela Hoya fight, but a third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez could yet become his biggest payday ever. Of course such a prognosis would also depend on how he fares against Oscar on December 6 in Las Vegas.

The key is for Pacman to promote that Marquez 3 fight (as he himself pointed out in earlier statements). Pay Marquez what’s his due and collect his share of live gate and pay-per-view proceeds. This fight will sell to those who bought tickets and pay-per-view access for The Dream Awaits, the Pacman-Marquez fights, the Pacman-Barrera fights, the Pacman-Morales fights and now, for The Dream Match. In short, what a Pacman-Marquez 3 offers in terms of sales and profits can boggle the businessman’s mind.

Bruce Lee's Style, Sugar Ray's Insight

When asked what his fighting style was, the legendary martial arts hero—Bruce Lee—said he had none. He just had to use whatever weapon was most effective under his control in any given situation. A few of his box office films showed some of the ways he used his weapons. He punched, he kicked, he bit, and he strangled, etc. his opponents.

Bruce Lee was not only a movie icon. He also excelled in martial arts competitions. He was phenomenal because he beat opponents thrice his size not only in films but also in actual combat.

His philosophy was to put himself always a step ahead of his opponent. He argued that a stronger opponent could only beat him if he hit him. Before anyone could hit him, the opponent must come close to him. And before anyone could come close to him, Bruce Lee had already hit him.

Bruce Lee said the ability to put oneself ahead of his opponent required mental and physical discipline, such as conditioning the muscles and motor systems to the task (he worked in the gym eight hours a day), openness to learn new things, and belief in one’s capabilities. He said application of power and speed can be honed to perfection with training. The power of a punch comes from the hips, he said; speed is a function both of physical conditioning and of focus.

Bruce Lee’s fighting philosophy gains resonance in the latest thoughts shared by legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard on the coming colossal fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar dela Hoya. Interviewed by James Blears of BoxingScene.com, Sugar Ray said “Manny Pacquiao can defeat Oscar De La Hoya but it’s going to take
excellent defense as well as his famed all out aggression.”

Sugar further said that the fight is intriguing, and he would watch it because of that. “… but I see Oscar as being just a bit too strong, with his reach and with his speed. It almost seems like a mismatch, but I don’t think it will be a mismatch, because also on the flip side Oscar could take him lightly. Will he? I doubt that very seriously, because Oscar needs a big win over a big name. But Oscar’s 35 years old now, and he has to be on his A game to beat Pacquiao. Pacquiao has one helluva solid chin, but can he take Oscar’s punch?”

But “you will see Oscar’s jab knocks Pacquiao back, it’s going to be a pretty short night. This whole thing is offense. Pacquiao’s game is offense, throwing repeated punches. He’s like a little Tasmanian Devil. He’s non stop. But will those punches hurt Oscar? Oscar will be in pretty good damn shape himself. He’s been hit by big guys, and I don’t foresee Pacquiao hurting Oscar. Sting him. But hurt him? No.”
“Pacquiao is very dominant with guys his size, but when he’s on the attack, he’s open, and very vulnerable. Oscar will see that…or he should see that. It’s very hard to say what Pacquiao can do and should do, because he has to be aggressive, because he’s the smaller of the two. But he also has to be defensive, to protect himself from the big punches.”

Thus for Sugar Ray, Oscar should win the fight. But Manny has chances. “I just think it would be an incredible feat for him to upset Oscar. Can it be done? YES! Anything can happen in the ring.”

When Blears asked him to comment on Freddie Roach’s saying Oscar can’t pull the trigger any more, Sugar said “You don’t lose power. I think what fighters lose as we get older - we lose that commitment to take a punch. When I was in the ring in my twenties, I would hit you, because I don’t think you’re not going to hit me back, because I’ll hit you so fast that you won’t touch me. But as I got older, when I turned thirty five and then forty, and those comebacks, I anticipated the punch coming back. So I didn’t have the same commitment. That’s the commitment in your head. I knew a consequence would come back.”

Like Bruce Lee, Sugar Ray Leonard beat his opponents because he believed he could hit them before they could do the same to him. Manny would do well to have this mindset when he faces Oscar on December 6.

Book Summary: Who Can Stop the PacMan?

There was a time when The PacMan had nothing—no money, no decent clothes, no formal education, not much food to eat. There were but a few whom he could call his kin or friend. There was hardly someone he could turn to for comfort, assurance or counsel. He was so wretched it was hard for anyone to think he would come out winning this big. Yes, anyone—except probably himself.

Today, Manny “The PacMan” Pacquiao is rich in many respects. His assets are now worth hundreds of millions of pesos. By year-end, he could be a certified billionaire. He has taken college courses. He has a lovely family. The number of his relatives and friends has grown from a reluctant few to a cheering multitude the size of an entire race—the Filipino race. And he now maintains hordes of expensive advisers.

His rise from the bottom to the top is phenomenal. He started with nothing except the will to overcome adversity. He opened doors of opportunities for himself by deciding to become a boxing champion. It was a decision backed by action. He toiled as he dreamed. He worked hard in the gym to hone his God-given talent in the sport. He put effort into his craft like no one ever did. He tried to follow his star where others would not dare stick their neck out of their comfort shells. And, at 29, he has succeeded like no one ever did.

The story of Manny Pacquiao is not only about boxing. His story is also about hard work, focus and determination. His story is about faith in himself and in his God. His story is about courage. His story is about heart.

With the stuff he is made of, who can stop him from winning both inside and outside the ring?

The Dream

Emmanuel Dapigran Pacquiao was born on December 17, 1978 in Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines, to parents Dionisia and Rosalio Pacquiao. The Pacquiao household would eventually move to General Santos City (or GenSan), also in Mindanao, where he would eventually grow up. It was a life in GenSan—and the death of a childhood friend—which drove the young Emmanuel to build and nurture a dream.

Even as he attended public elementary school, Manny helped his family cope with its daily survival needs. He sold home-made doughnuts and all sorts of merchandise within the neighborhood. He shined shoes. The budding macho man helped mother Dionisia do some laundry work. But as in many impoverished places, no amount of work could generate income sufficient enough to lift them from abject poverty. Missing meals was not uncommon. Manny often went to school with an empty stomach, wearing worn out clothes, and unshod. The separation of his parents all the more made it tougher for the Pacquiao household to survive.
As the days went on and the daily struggles grew tougher, the will to survive and come out successful emerged from the depths of Emmanuel’s young consciousness. He tried his hand in one of those boxing matches among boys meant to entertain the peryahan crowd during fiestas. It did not take long for him and his friends to find out that he could throw away a flurry of fists. He had a boxer’s gait—the punching flair, the heart of a winner, the predator instinct of a tiger.
In between family chores and studies he pummeled a boxing bag he himself improvised. A few more exposures in those barangay fiestas gave him enough confidence to chase his boxing dream. At 14, he packed whatever could be called his personal belongings, left his GenSan home, and sailed away for Manila.

The Rising Star of Philippine Boxing

Making both ends meet was equally tough in the big city for Manny. He took all sorts of odd jobs—mostly in construction sites—before he finally found himself associated with the owners of the L & M Gym in Manila. A few days after turning 17, he debuted on January 22, 1995 as a professional boxer against Enting Ignacio in Mindoro Occidental. They fought for four rounds as junior flyweight at 106 pounds in Mindoro Occidental. Then he fought 11 times in 12 months after that, winning all of them, four of them inside the distance. Most of his fights were covered by Blow by Blow, a boxing program carried by national television. By this time, he was already the toast of Philippine boxing. A star was in the making.

The streak evidently bloated his ego. He faced his 12th opponent—a much heftier Rustico Torrecampo—exceedingly confident. His fighting condition was suspect and paid dearly for it. Torrecampo knocked him out in the third round. But Manny would soon regain his will to overcome setbacks. He learned his lessons and went on to rack up 15 straights wins in just three years, 13 of them inside the distance, four of which having ended in the opening round.
He became a world flyweight champion at age 20 when he stopped Thailand’s Chatchai Sasakul on December 4, 1998 in Thailand. But yet again he crashed. After failing to make the flyweight weight limit in a title defense against Medgoen Sinsurat, another Thailander, in 1999, he suffered his second career loss by stoppage in the third round.

He came back and won seven straight ring battles before being held to a 6-round technical draw by Dominican Republic’s Agapito Sanchez in a super bantamweight title fight against on November 10, 2001. Five months earlier Manny won the IBF super bantamweight title from South Africa’s Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. He retained his super bantamweight title 5 times before challenging Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera.

In a span of 8 years since turning pro in 1995, Manny Pacquiao climbed the boxing ring 43 times, or an average of over 5 times every year. His ring record: 40 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw. Of the 40 wins, 28 ended by either knockout or technical knockout; only 9 went the full route. Interestingly, all 9 fighters who went the full distance against Manny Pacquiao were Filipinos. By this time Manny had already beaten 18 foreign fighters, all of them inside the distance. Did he have a soft spot for compatriots? Maybe. It was also likely that, knowing him fully well unlike foreigners, Filipino beakbusters found it more pragmatic to simply go through the motions of fighting rather than engage the PacMan in full combat. Manny once said that his early fights ended because the other guy could not continue either due to punishment he got from him or due to exhaustion from too much backpedaling.

Little Tiger from the Philippines

Despite his resume, Manny Pacquiao faced Marco Antonio Bandera on November 11, 2003 in Texas, USA, a relative unknown and a huge underdog. Larry Merchant, the legendary sport journalist whose resume includes throwing a wicked right to the chin of a boxing fan for distracting him during a post-fight interview and one of the HBO commentators working on the Pacquiao-Barrera I fight, could not believe what he was seeing inside the ring. He had expected—along with a great majority of boxing fans—a demolition; but not the demolition of the great Mexican. He wondered how Barrera—who earlier mauled undefeated fighters and fellow future Hall of Famers like Prince Naseem Hamed and Eric Morales—got clawed by what he called “the little tiger from the Philippines.” Manny Pacquiao pulverized to submission Marco Antonio Barrera, who was then recognized in the boxing world as the People’s Champ.
“Manny Pacquiao has just shaken the boxing world…” Merchant told his TV audience. Manny’s celebrity status also zoomed away to unparalleled heights.

Storm from the Pacific

Adoring fans became a common sight wherever Manny Pacquiao went. Who is this man? Not a few rushed to offer him names. The destroyer. The Mexecutioner. The PacMan. Bob Arum of Top Rank called him a walking money machine. Interviewed by Philippine media on his arrival from the US after his sensational win against Erik Morales in their rematch, Manny called himself the “Storm from the Pacific.”

Profile in Courage

From one who weighed 106 pounds when he began his boxing career, Manny climbed the ring at 135 pounds in his last fight. In June 2008 he challenged David Diaz in a title fight for the latter’s lightweight crown. Manny has emerged a world champion for the fourth time in as many weight divisions. Regarded by boxing experts as the world’s best boxer today, pound-for-pound, Manny Pacquiao is at the height of his career. Except for nagging questions on the results of his two previous fights against Juan Manual Marquez—another great Mexican boxer—the PacMan has nothing more to prove inside the ring.

But the PacMan is not done just yet. He embarked to sail on still unchartered seas. No boxer in recent history has tried what he is going to do soon—fight somebody who belongs to a weight division two levels higher. When he fights Oscar de la Hoya on December 6, 2008 in Las Vegas, USA, the Pacific Storm will test his limits anew. He certainly is showing courage no one else may come close to doing—ever.

Schaefer's Marquez Gambit

The call for a dream fight in Pacman-Marquez 3 has dramatically grown more intense after Juan Manuel Marquez cut down Ring Magazine lightweight champion Joel Casamayor last Sunday, September 14 (Manila time), in Las Vegas, USA.

To be sure, a Pacman-Marquez trilogy has presented itself after the two brave and brilliant gladiators clashed in a rematch last March 2008 also in Las Vegas. Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions’ Chief Executive Officer, has said in a post-fight interview that the Oscar dela Hoya outfit can offer Pacman 6 million dollars to face Marquez in a third outing. Pacman did not grab the offer but instead went on to browse his order of battle and ended up signing a ring date with the Golden Boy himself—now dubbed “The Dream Match”—and set to rouse the boxing world on December 6, 2008, again in Las Vegas. Schaefer’s latest gambit is not so much about the prizefighter in Pacman, but rather it touches on the testicular ego of any fighter.

In a recent interview with setantasports.com, Scheafer insinuated that Pacman dreads facing Marquez again. Scheafer said that while he would like to see a Pacman-Marquez 3, he believes “that Pacquiao and his team know what the result would be... The money for Pacquiao-Marquez fight is there so it cannot be the money.” Scheafer also shot down the notion that Pacman picked Diaz over Marquez because of money. For facing Diaz, Pacman was reported to have pocketed a professional fee much smaller in amount than what Golden Boy earlier dangled to propose a Pacman-Marquez 3.

These are all calculated wordwork aimed at baiting the Pacman to descend to the level of Marquez. Many people say that Marquez is an intelligent fighter, whose rabid fans are now bracing up to raise him atop the pound-for-pound ranking, beside (if not ahead), or at least a notch below, the Pacman himself. This is where the irony lies. The branded Marquez brain hardly shows in how he attracts paying fans. The net effect is he remains dreaming for compensation that is anywhere close to what Pacman has been getting.

Although at one point the Pacman corner—after two epic ring battles—has already dismissed the Marquez question as answered, a third serving continues to draw so much interest for several reasons. One is what should be an obvious appreciation of the drawing potential of a third—and hopefully deciding—match at the box office. Another is pride of the Americas. And still another arises from the strategic positioning in the rivalry between the Golden Boy where Marquez belongs and Bob Arum’s Top Rank, to which Pacman is associated.

Pacman fans feel that Marquez does not have what it takes to beat Manny. Marquez should have lost the first time they met, but one judge who obviously did not know how to count or who probably forgotten what the rules say came to his rescue. Marquez salvaged a draw and kept his junior lightweight title which at the time was at stake. The second fight was also close, but the judges ruled that Pacman won it.

Marquez fans on the other hand think that Marquez won both fights. They claim that their fighter is a far superior boxer, technically and in terms of ringmanship (whatever that means), and as shown by his hitting Pacman with more precise, if not more telling, shots. (Maybe somebody should devise an alternative scoring scheme for fights that go the full distance, like looking at whose face gets more distorted at the end of the fight, or which boxer looks more spent and is gasping for more oxygen, etc.—but that would be another story.)

The inconclusiveness of the results of the two Pacman-Marquez fights is such that one wonders if both camps of Pacman and Marquez, or whoever boxing gods may exist out there, may have fixed the outcome so that a third fight can be this compelling. The succeeding forays by both fighters in the heavier lightweight division against separate opponents have produced impressive performances—Pacquiao stopping David Diaz in 9 and Marquez demolishing Casmayor in 11—all the more whetted the appetite of boxing fans for Pacman and Marquez to rumble one more time.

Some writers have declared that a Pacman-Marquez trilogy has now become a must. And observers will probably note that proponents of such a necessity mostly come from the Americas (particularly the North and Latin America). The Pacman has demolished the greatest boxers that America can shove in front of him atop the ring. It seems Marquez is the only one there is that can check American humiliation. While these proponents anticipate Pacman’s surrender at the hands of Oscar come December 6, they also concede that Pacman’s handicap in size does not inspire redemption for American pride.

People with a flair for commerce are also attracted to the what a Pacman-Marquez 3 can offer in terms of dollars. Such a dream fight has captured the imagination of boxing fans that it is easy to figure out the millions ready to come out and pay for it. But even here money makers will have to thank Pacman for a potential market that has grown dramatically huge. For challenging Oscar and the odds, Pacman has stoked the fire and passion for boxing as a sports spectacle the world has not seen since Henry Armstrong and Roberto Duran. Pacman simply has no match in the ring, and in projecting himself outside of it; he looms twice or thrice a draw after December 6.

Finally, Pacman and Marquez constitute a proxy war between the leading fight promoters today—Top Rank and Golden Boy. Like a tree that gets known and valued by the fruit it bears, promoters keep and expand their markets by the fighters they keep. Let no one forget that both promotion outfits had early on fought tooth and nail to lock Pacman into their stables, which makes the issues surrounding Pacman, Oscar, Marquez, Arum, among others, partake of something personal of some individuals concerned. But beyond all of the personal swipes that marred their professional ties lies the need to map their future. This is about strategy. Schaefer has laid the basis for it by baiting Pacman to face Marquez. But this has nothing to do with American pride. This has everything to do with commerce.

Manny Pacquiao: The World's Greatest Boxer

I wonder if there is any fight in recent history that has generated as much discussion as the December 6, 2008 Oscar de la Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight. While there had been huge ring battles in the recent past—among them Mayweather-dela Hoya, Pacquiao-Morales, Castillo-Corrales, etc—they were huge not only because the protagonists represented the cream of prizefighting crop, but also because they looked like, from whichever way one sized them up, evenly matched. Not like this one, obviously. The Pacquiao-dela Hoya match looks like a huge mismatch. And the intriguing part of it is that while mismatches do not normally attract attention, this one does.

Aside from the drawing power of both fighters, what adds to the excitement among boxing fans and tension among partisans is the fact that nobody thought that a fight like this could have happened in the first place—ever—except perhaps Manny himself. Sure some people—like HBO’s Larry Merchant and Super Trainer Freddie Roach—have early on dreamed aloud about it, but their visions would have amounted to nothing had Manny stayed within the mold of the ordinary. That Dela Hoya needed to rationalize it—he (Pacquiao) challenged me, he said—may have helped the two fighters to come to terms, but the key still hinged on how Manny measured his limits. He said more than once he could beat Oscar; and when media announced that the fight with the Golden Boy was on, Manny’s loyal fans could only hope he meant what he said.

But still a large part of the boxing world remains skeptical. While a few—like the legendary Roberto Duran—picks Manny over Oscar; the rest of the mob feels otherwise. Reactions to the fight varied from disbelief to summary verdict: “Pacquiao will not last a few rounds against de la Hoya”, “Oscar will knock him out!”, “Midget Pacquiao—No Way!”, etc. The betting odds at Las Vegas, upon which most boxing experts base their analysis of fight outcomes, currently favor Oscar, +180 against -230 (a bet of 100 on Manny wins 180, while a 230 wager on Oscar is needed to win 100).

Viewing the pound-for-pound king Pacquiao as underdog is not baseless. Oscar has fought as a middleweight at 164 pounds, while Manny started his professional boxing career at 106 pounds. And although Manny weighed 135 pounds in his last outing against David Diaz to Oscar’s 154 pounds in his last bout against Steve Forbes—or a difference of 19 pounds—the size disparity between the two still makes it hard for ordinary mortals to imagine that one of them could be taking on the other inside the ring. The dream match obliges both fighters to go after the magical weight limit of 147, putting Manny farther away from his normal fighting weight more than it does to Oscar.

No one needs to be reminded that a pound of flesh is sacrosanct in boxing. An expensive boxing promotion can be scrapped when questions over weight limits are unresolved, as in the case of the recently-aborted Nate Campbell-Joan Guzman fight. Belts can change hands—or waists—on the same issue, just like what happened to Manny early in his career. The late Diego Corrales refused to face Jose Luis Castillo a third time because the latter stayed two pounds over the limit at weigh-in. “I have a family and children to feed,” Corrales explained, obviously alluding to the health risks fighters face when they are up against bigger opponents.

Manny has thus separated himself from ordinary mortals when he decided to face the much bigger Oscar inside the ring. Even without his size advantage, Oscar will be hard to beat. The Golden Boy glitters because he has substance. He is not a 10-time world champion for nothing. Against the smaller PacMan, he will not need to load up on his punches. He can lob left hooks and long rights like he is flicking jabs.

At his current financial stature, Manny hardly needs to take any risk. He needs something else. He must have felt—as he himself said it through media—that the challenge to beat Oscar meant more than the lure of money. Taking the challenge could have been a way of saying he needed to prove what he can do against the best fighters in the planet; and with a size handicap, he can raise the standards of prizefighting to an improbably higher level.

For daring to test his limits, Manny has given himself a stab at greatness and boxing immortality. With courage, enough preparation as well faith in God and in himself, he has what it takes to defy the odds and beat de la Hoya. Even the best of them can miss their target, and an Oscar dela Hoya who blinks for a fleeting second is all Manny needs to land a picture perfect shot. With speed and power inside the ring, the PacMan will have his chances to explode, create mayhem and come out of the match without equal.

The day after December 6 can be the start of Manny’s undisputed reign in boxing. By then the debate on who is the world’s greatest boxer ever can neither begin nor end without mention of his name.