Category: Manny Pacquiao

The day has arrived. The day we’ve looked forward to for weeks, hours, months. This day is special. There has never been a day like Nov. 15, 2009. Elections happen in our land every 36 months—but that’s insignificant compared to this 36-minute mega-fight. This day—win or lose—will be remembered next year, in 2015, and 30 years hence.

Consider how Manny Pacquiao has changed our lives. He is on the cover of Time, the world’s most popular weekly. He is the first-ever Asian athlete to grace it’s front page. That’s historic. That’s his story.

Consider our city streets. Today, there’ll be a jeepney strike. For four hours until 2 p.m., the roads will be deserted. No, Barack Obama has not flown into Mactan, Cebu—he’s in Singapore. The streets have been closed for another President—the leader of RP sports and entertainment, if there ever was a title.

Consider the innumerable family reunions today. Brothers, fathers, daughters, lolos, mothers—all cloistered as one this lunch. And, friends, too. I, for one, will be in the brand-new Ma. Luisa home of my best friend, Dr. Ron Eullaran. So will my wife Jasmin and daughter Jana. So will Dr. Ronnie Medalle and his family. And Ray and Letty Patuasi and their families. Today, family and friends share one TV set. These get-togethers don’t just happen here in Lapu-Lapu or Toledo or Bogo. They’re in Tagum, in Baguio, in Kalibo. They’re in Dubai, in Los Angeles, in Vancouver—all over the globe where colleagues and kindred cluster. As one. All because of One.

Consider the movie-houses. Aren’t they closed during mornings? Not this A.M. Today, by 9, thousands will enter SM and Ayala and hundreds of other cinemas nationwide. Has this ever happened before?

Consider the restaurants. They’ll be jam-packed. Everybody devouring buffet meals at P299. San Miguel Beer? Oh, that will ooze. Rico’s Lechon and the dozens of other lechon stops? The owners, by day’s end, will be hundreds of thousands of pesos richer.

Consider the 11 a.m. mass schedule. Normally one of the most crowded of schedules—the pews will be empty. Consider the groom and bride who booked their wedding six months ago and chose the 10:30 a.m. schedule of Nov. 15. Ouch! Theirs will suffer either (1) a 60 percent drop in attendees or (2) will be forced, during the lunch reception, to install TV monitors with “live Las Vegas coverage.”

Consider that war ceases. Gun-fighting, in the hours during Pacman’s fight, will halt. Ceasefires called by President GMA can’t stop wars. Peace treaties can’t. Only one man can.

Consider how this man, once homeless and who only had one meal of rice per day, has transformed the way the world thinks of the name, “Filipino.” Today, mention our nationality and foreigners smile. They think of Pacman. Like Hillary Clinton, who spoke highly of MP. Same with America’s most celebrated of celebrities—Denzel Washington, Shaq, Tyson, Donald Trump, the Boston Celtics—who revere our 5-foot-6 southpaw from Gen. Santos City.

Consider that MP has a chance to win the SI “Sportsman of the Year” prize, besting Kobe and the NY Yankees.

Consider the impact that Manny’s win will do for him—and for RP—if he succeeds. Already in Nike’s billboards and TV ads, he’ll solidify his status on the Mt. Summit of Sports and be on the same plateau with Tiger, Roger, Bolt, Phelps.

But let’s also consider that our hero can lose. Overconfidence poisons. Too much smiling can turn that cheerful look into a bloody face. Boxing is unpredictable. Sports endings are never like a James Bond movie where Daniel Craig is always unscathed and left smooching a starlet.

You see, we’ve been spoiled by Manny’s KOs. After slaughtering the Mexicans and the DLHs and the Hattons—we believe he’s unbeatable. In this fight, from Freddie Roach to the betting tables to me and you—we believe Manny can’t lose. He can. Let’s hope not. Let’s pray. Let’s watch. Let’s clap.

For there has never been—and will never be—a day in sports, a day in Philippine life, a clash in boxing… like today.

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Here are a few of the best articles I’ve read about tomorrow’s fight…

AskMen Dan Rafael The Queensberry Rules Times Online Phil. Star

And, of course, the site where to get it all…. Philboxing.com

If you access the 5th most visited website in America and type the 13 letters of this Filipino boxer’s name, you will be astounded by the volume of videos that you can watch.

As of 6:42 last night, it’s 23,900 videos. If you total the number of views that these Manny Pacquiao videos harvest, it would be millions. That’s plenty. Well, what can you expect from the most famous boxer on Planet Earth?

Think about it. Imagine if YouTube did not exist. Imagine if we could not access all of PacMan’s fights? If, having missed seeing his 2003 Marco Antonio Barrera “upset” victory, we could not replay it? For here’s the amazing technological breakthrough for all of sports. It’s two words combined as one: YouTube.

Television, we know, is irreplaceable. The screen size is vast. The clarity is sharp. Plus, we have a spectrum of channels: ESPN, Star Sports, Balls, CNN World Sport, BTV. The problem is, with TV, the network dictates. If we miss that 8 p.m. coverage, chances are it’s goodbye. Not with YouTube. For with this internet sensation, it’s “on” all the time.

Let’s talk about Manny. Have you watched the Pacquiao-Cotto HBO 24/7 documentary? It’s a must-see film. There are four parts and, thus far, three have been shown by HBO (the fourth one is the night before the Nov. 14 fight).

On Part I, you’ll see Manny training amidst the flooding that has engulfed Baquio. Unable to run on the road because of rain, he’s forced to swim on the indoor pool. Sad to say, Manny can’t swim! “We do this first time swimming, it’s hard,” says Manny. “The bad thing is… I drink a lot of water in swimming pool.” It’s hilarious. I’ll spare you the details of the 30-minute segment. Watch it yourself. And, when you do, thank YouTube.

On its website, if you click the “Ratings” category, you’ll be greeted with the top hits: the video “De la Hoya vs. Pacquiao Highlights (HBO)” scores highest with 1.78 million views. Next is the 1.55 million views by Marquez vs. Pacquiao II. In all, I counted seven Pacquiao videos with over one million views each. The other popular ones include “MP Knockout Compilation” and “The Best Manny Pacquiao Video Ever!”

Speaking of Mr. Cotto, everybody, including Manny, knows he’s dangerous. But, I’ll be honest, apart from his last fight with Joshua Clottey, I had not watched his previous encounters. That’s my problem.

Problem solved! I go to YouTube. There, if I type the 11 letters of his name, 3,860 videos appear. I review his Antonio Margarito pounding. I observe how he trashed Shane Mosley. Amazing footages I see. Thanks to this website that owns 72 percent of all video streams in the U.S.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live show? Prior to Manny’s guest performance last week, I had not heard of Mr. Kimmel. The likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman, yes, of course—but never Kimmel. And so, how to watch his show, which is never aired in our Asian country?

No problem. Click on YouTube. You see, YouTube is the new television tube. In fact, since its database of sports stories number in the tens of millions, it’s even better than TV.

No wonder this website has an unbelievable 1.2 billion views… every single day! It ranks as the 5th most popular site—behind Google, Yahoo, Facebook and MSN.com. No wonder its owners, Google, paid $1.65 billion for its purchase three Novembers ago.

YouTube has changed lives. Remember Susan Boyle? The Scottish singer in the show, Britain’s Got Talent? She amassed 100 millions views. Or Arnel Pineda, the Filipino who’s now the lead singer for the band, Journey? He was discovered via the website. Or Charice Pempengco? But possibly more than any other field, it has changed how we follow sports.

My wish? That TV sets would have built-in YouTube access. (I believe Samsung has this feature in a high-end model.) Imagine if that were to become a standard innovation on all TV sets? ESPN and Star Sports would be replaced by on-demand sports shows that we can view at anytime.

As to my all-time favorite video? If you have yet to see it, you’ll scream in laughter… “Ricky Hatton Bisaya 2009.”

When our Filipino hero fought Ricky Hatton last May 2, I penned an article that morning entitled, “MP’s secret is spelled MP.” In that piece, I elaborated saying that MP’s success formula—apart from his speed and muscle—is his mental backbone. Mind Power. That’s MP’s MP. I likened his psychological tenacity to Tiger Woods’ and Rafael Nadal’s.

Today, I’m revealing another secret. Actually, it’s no mystery. It’s obvious. Only, I’ve noticed it lately.

Manny’s smile. Yep. That’s it. That’s MP’s oracle. That’s the bayonet he holds to obliterate the enemy. His smile. Think about it. Doesn’t Manny smile more than the usual athlete… than the usual boxer?

Because, if we stereotype boxers, aren’t they supposed to frown, smirk, pierce angrily and look treacherous? All the time? Aren’t boxers supposed to look scary? Intimidating? And not smile? Yes. But Manny smiles. Unlike many. And Manny wins. Unlike many.

So here’s the secret we all know about our prized Filipino possession: He looks happy. On his face is a grin—not a growl. He’s cheerful and merry. Unlike most “tough guys” who look ugly with their perennial frowns.

Haven’t you noticed that in most boxing fights, when the pugilist enters the Las Vegas arena, he looks grim, serious and, to borrow, the Lady Gaga song, “Poker face?” Wanting to look nasty, didn’t we witness Oscar de la Hoya entering the boisterous stadium never-smiling?  Didn’t we see this in Ricky Hatton? And don’t we observe this I’m-tough-therefore-I-have-to-look-mean look?

Not MP. With Manny, entering the MGM Grand stadium, he’s like a child—with dad and mom on both sides, with his relatives behind him—about to enter Disneyland! He’s eager. He’s bouncing. He’s energetic. He’s smiling.

Right? MP is right. Smiling helps. Smiling is the outward sign of inner confidence. It’s a sign of feeling positive. A smile confuses an approaching frown. No wonder MP’s opponents, frowning while approaching the boxing ring, always lose.

Maybe it’s also because it takes only 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown—that this proven statistic helps Manny weaken his gloomy-looking opponents.

Take the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in Hollywood, of which MP was a guest a few days ago. Did you watch it? If not, you should—go to YouTube. Throughout his 11-minute interview and song number (“Sometimes when we touch”), Manny is jumping on his chair, beaming a toothful cheer. MP smiles.

On another occasion earlier this week, he did the same. Quoting the Phil. Star article, “Media Day Workout: Happy Manny exudes confidence,” of Abac Cordero last Nov. 6, “Manny Pacquiao grinned from ear to ear and oozed with confidence Wednesday as he faced the media at the Wild Card Gym here. ‘I can’t wait for the fight,’ declared the reigning pound-for-pound champion.”

How about MP’s enemy? “Miguel Cotto’s own media day, which took place Tuesday at the Pound4Pound Gym here in Los Angeles, paled in comparison,” wrote Cordero. “For one, it looked like Cotto left his smile in his training camp in Las Vegas. Miguel hardly smiled at the gym yesterday and here he was looking so happy, Pacquiao was told.

“’Ganoon ba? Pag-bigyan niyo na. Nagre-reduce yun eh (Is that so? Let him be. He’s reducing),’ said the 30-year-old icon who looked so comfortable he can tip the scales anytime and make limit of 145 lb.

“Except when he did four rounds with the mitts with Freddie Roach, Pacquiao did smile most of the time, gladly fielding questions, and even putting his arms around the Tekate girls with bodies enough to warm up the gym. Obviously, Pacquiao had no worries in mind the whole two hours he looked like he was doing a commercial shoot.”

What does this tell us? This simple fact: Smile. MP does it. MJ does it. You and I should do it. We should smile. More. Because when we do, it makes us feel good—and when we feel good, don’t we perform better? Quoting a Japanese proverb: “One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.”

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Part 1

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Part 2

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Freddie Roach’s request was denied. He’d chosen Mexico as training ground and it’s been disapproved by The Boss. Does this matter? Will Pacman’s focus suffer? Given his decision to house himself up in The City of Pines, will he be less brutal come Nov. 14?

I’m not worried. Same with Manny. He’s not. We all shouldn’t be. The reason: It’s less the “where” than the “how.” Sure, there will be distractions. Sure, Manny will fly out of Baguio on some Saturday nights and do whatever he wants until Sunday dawn. Yet, to me, these are negligible.

What’s most essential is “how.” And, haven’t we seen it over and over again, how Manny, when he starts training, pours himself totally, tirelessly, with indefatigable effort?