How, why Pacquiao failed fans

Manny Pacquiao on Sunday made a classic demonstration of why he’s the greatest boxer in the world, but there’s the danger of his unanimous decision victory over Ghanaian Joshua Clottey in Texas being junked from a collection of his finest fights.

Majority of sulking Filipino fans did not want to have anything to do with what they called a boring, tasteless bout.

In fact, fight fanatics out there in Metro Manila’s wet markets were unanimous in rating Pacquiao’s points win—his first after four successive knockouts—a great letdown.
Not a few also left viewing venues in a huff, feeling shortchanged, if not totally cheated.
They came expecting another sensational stoppage.

They failed to get what they wanted.

These innocent fans were, of course, being unfair to themselves.

How and why?

Pacquiao did not deliver another perfect performance, as trainer Freddie Roach would admit.
But the Clottey conquest fell only a few punches short of becoming another prizefight masterpiece.

If Pacquiao failed, it was in not being able to live up to his comics-book superman image, as he was peddled by jaded American boxing merchants.

Truth is that he rose nobly above Yankee automatons that would mangle and stop foes at a drop of an American coin.

In passing a very grim test, Pacquiao relied not solely on superior speed, power and skills.
He also rode on courage, patience, maturity and unassailable gallantry.

From a feared Pacific storm, the Clottey challenge turned Pacquiao into a pure Filipino warrior who was forged in fire.

There was nothing fancy, nothing borrowed.

Yes, the quiet, well-rounded win over Clottey may yet go down as Pacquiao’s most relevant fight.

So what if he failed to score another knockout?

The degree of difficulty alone should readily install that fight among the top three in the Pacquiao classics, worthy of a double-10 score if it were in gymnastics.

Now, this is not to say that the initial poor review and refusal of the Pacquiao-Clottey bout by fans was shallow and myopic.

But, just like tourists who would first study a little art before going to the top museums in Europe disappointed local fight fanatics might have to start brushing up on boxing basics.
“Pacquiao was a blur, a meteor that hurtled from the slums all the way up to all-time greatness following that Clottey conquest,” wrote one American fight critic in the league of the great Michael Marley of examiner.com.

It’s not exactly a case of Filipinos failing to fully enjoy and appreciate a gem of a feat delivered by the greatest RP boxer out of sheer ignorance.

But isn’t Pacquiao also to blame for having spoiled his ever-hoping countrymen with a knockout after knockout after another knockout?

By: Recah Trinidad

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer