Manny Pacquiao: End of an Era?

I don’t know how to start this post. I’m so emotional right now. But no, I’m not crying – Jinkee is. And she has all the rights in the world to do so. Back off haters.

Manny Pacquiao, the future Hall of Famer, came into the ring wearing a smile in his face. You can see his confidence and eagerness to showcase his greatness against a long-time rival in Juan Manuel Marquez. The first round was alright – no highlights to be shown on tomorrow’s newspapers – but then the next rounds came and Pacquiao, unfortunately, received a powerful punch in the face from Marquez that made him sit on the floor for 5 secs. That alone, made me feel very anxious. I’m like, what Pacquiao? Come on!

So I was right, Pacquiao would revenge and would be more eager than ever – for he punched from left to right until JuanMa was cornered and eventually was down for the count for some time. That made everything even. I was sitting, watching, observing, and saying that the fight would be a great show – with both fighters willing to give it all to prove all them haters wrong; and to show who’s really the stronger boxer between them.

And so the 6th Round came, with all these nerves inside me I was very confident that Manny would survive this until the last second. The bell was about to ring when Manny received that amazing blow to the chin from Juan Manuel Marquez. No counts needed. No confirmation was required. Pacquiao was down – down and looking bad. He fell like he was shot by a gun from the back. I was shocked, stunned and crying inside at the same time. What happened? He was saved by the bell, right? Unfortunately no, he can’t get up. His eyes were closed. I can see Jinkee from the stands trying to reach his husband – that alone, is a heartbreaker.

Pacquiao, the man that we nicknamed “PacMan”, has shown enough and has proven many things already. He brought glory to the Philippines for so many years now. All those championships that he offered to the Filipinos – all of them are treasures. It’s not a shame to see Pacquiao out there in Las Vegas, Nevada down and almost dying. IT’S NOT. Maybe, I thought, it’s just a message that Manny should think twice now. Is he still that strong to compete against the others? Probably not today, for Marquez was the stronger man.

I think Pacquiao – Marquez V would not be necessary. They’ve shown enough and I know boxing fans would like to move on from the rivalry – which is probably one of the greatest rivalries of all time.

Now is Pacquiao’s time to fall, to fail and to be defeated. He’s been up there for so long now. He’s just human – he’s not a boxing God or whatever. Overconfidence may have eaten him or whatever. It’s just that, maybe his era has ended – and another would start for our Filipino boxers in the name of Nonito Donaire or the others. Just maybe.

No matter what, I’m still proud of what Manny Pacquiao has achieved. From rugs to riches – from a nobody to somebody. He’s such an inspiration.

I support Filipino athletes. I support Philippine sports. Win or Lose, I’m still a Filipino – I’m still a supporter.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest boxers of all time – a true Filipino warrior.

Pacquiao-Marquez III: A Controversial End

You can put this one to the list of “The Most Controversial Boxing Fights” ever. They both deserved to win actually.

I’ve been waiting for this fight for like 20 days before Nov. 13; I actually bought a ticket to watch PacMan live but unfortunately, my commitments wasted it. Going back to the fight, I thought Marquez controlled the first half of the fight. He was dominant since the first round and did everything right. My tweeps were tweeting things like “what happened to Pacquiao” and things like that. I was also wondering why Pacquiao is not showing up. I mean, I’m not used on seeing Pacquiao receiving punches from his opponent. 

The Last half of the fight will go to Pacman, but I didn’t say that Marquez got tired as of this moment. Marquez continued to fight and that made me decide that Pacquiao has a slim chance of winning this game.

I was holding on to that slim hope; I’m still hoping that Pacquiao will still win the fight. I was so nervous; the fight was so intense.

As the Round 12 ended, I was so shocked. I thought Marquez will win the fight BUT I still got the feeling that Pacman would not allow this huge upset. I waited for the decision.. I waited.. I ate my lunch (Ooops, that’s unnecessary I think).. The judges made their decisions.. It ended up like this: Pacquiao with a Majority Decision win. I was like, OH GREAT! YEAH YEAH YEAH!! But I’m not that convinced that Manny won the fight. I’m not saying that Manny is not deserving but I think he’s not himself during that fight. But again, I’m still proud that Manny won the fight.

To end this one, I would like to congratulate Marquez. Major props to him. He was great; he did everything very well but maybe, it’s just not your time to defeat PacMan.

Now who’s up for a PACQUIAO-MARQUEZ 4? Or do you prefer to watch PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER 1? (Why did I included “1” there? Oh never mind.)

All photo credits go to their respectful owner/s.

**This post was first posted on 11/13/11 on my Tumblr Blog**