Everybody Loves a Champion

A pint of a man who fights like a lion, Pacquiao has been called the Filipino people's champion, the national fist, the pride of the Asian race, the single unifying force in Philippines today, etcetera, etcetera.
On Sunday morning, millions of Filipinos stayed home, eyes and ears glued to TV. Thousand others trooped to mall theatres that aired the live coverage of the encounter.
For a day at least, life was peace and bliss for the typically fractious Filipinos. Local TV posted record ratings. The fight drew over 5 million TV households, the highest in all the Philippines TV history. The police reported zero crime rates. Traffic was clear and smooth in the usually congested streets of Manila. Rebels and soldiers put their weapons to rest to watch the fight. Mutinous troops suspended alleged and real plots to mount coups. Rival politicians abstained from vile and venomous prose.
It was, simply, a day for watching The Pacman fight and nothing else besides. The ironies that mark his life are so stark that he is a compelling story. A former bakery boy, Pacquiao, 27, stands to earn about $4 million from the fight, as well as shares from pay-per-view revenues of the Home Box-Office channel. Born in crushing poverty in the backwaters of General Santos City in war-torn Mindanao island, he now harkens Filipinos to unite and live in peace. The chief of staff of the Armed Forces has even proposed to bring Pacquiao to visit soldiers in the frontlines, ostensibly to talk them out of hatching coup plots.
Indeed, more than his enthronement as a celebrity, the fascinating story about this real-life Cinderella Man is his phenomenal rise in influence and affluence. He has become top broker of peace for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. And more than the kitty he will be bringing home from winning his boxing matches, Pacquiao will possibly earn much more as commercial model and endorser of all sorts of products and services.
Everybody loves a champion, man, woman, child, the rich, the poor and all others in between. And there lies what could well turn into the folly that is Pacquiao. More than everybody, politicians and traders love a champion, a winner. The most cock-eyed of the lot know a fantastic sell when they see one. With reason, they know and see Pacquiao as a winner. And there lies what could well be the tragedy of the victor that is Pacquiao.
Filipinos have elevated him to the hall of heroes but to men of commerce and politics, Pacquiao is no more than a poster boy, a product endorser, a mouthpiece, perhaps even a clown. On Sunday at the ring, for instance, The Pacman wore boxers that flaunted the names and logos of all the companies with which he had clinched commercial endorsement contracts two months earlier, or before he could punch his first at Morales in Las Vegas.
On the butt of his white boxers, Pacquiao wore the name of a firm selling car batteries. On his left and right thighs, on the front and back, he brandished the red-yellow-orange flame of a clothing company's logo, the flag of an airline, and all over, the patches of a line of athletic socks, an energy drink, instant coffee, and a Telco's pre-paid card service.
A patch bought its doubtful place of honour on the boxer's shorts for as much as 1.5 million pesos, or about $29,000. One newspaper estimated that the shorts he wore to victory had already earned for Pacquiao no less than 5 million pesos, or about $96,000. In gist, the boxer sold his boxers like he was pitching billboard space to advertisers. One advertiser recounted in jest that it was the boxer himself who offered to emblazon his boxers with product logos and patches. "He even told us that the best buy was the space at the back of his shorts, not in front," according to one advertiser who wanted but could not afford to buy space.
Business, apart from boxing, has occupied The Pacman in recent years. He has launched his own MP (Manny Pacquiao) line of clothing. Apart from building a handsome house for his wife and kids and mother, Pacquiao has opened a retail store and bought a farm for raising fighting cocks. Additionally, he has signed up with a local network to do duties on-cam as host of his weekly sports program, "Manny Pacquiao, Sports Idol."
By all indications, The Pacman is making hay while the sun shines bright on his career. For this, and all his efforts to keep and expand his wealth, he deserves neither rebuke nor ill will. An athlete savours glory and fame and wealth for just the brief fleeting period of their youth.
If he gets into all these deals eyes wide open, well and good. If he does so to make money, well and good for him. But if he does only always with just an eye for money, or only to please politicians and traders, Filipinos should stop ascribing Pacquiao with super hero qualities, and assigning him roles bigger than a boxer could perform. Pacquiao lives and does not qualify as yet to be a hero. Pacquiao continues to live it up as well, and does not qualify as yet to be installed as national symbol. At the very least, too, Pacquiao must stop pretending to be more than what he is. He should quit donning the vest of a vassal of truth, peace, unity, and reconciliation because in fact he is simply a great boxer, a huge celebrity, and a sure-fire product endorser for now, period.

Big Fights Coming in February

During the month of January, we witnessed some great boxing match-ups as well as a few intriguing outcomes. O’Neil Bell became the undisputed cruiserweight champion when he knocked out Jean Marc Mormeck in the 10th round. In the same evening, Carlos Baldomir pulled off a stunning upset by defeating the undisputed welterweight champion, Zab Judah, by unanimous decision, earning the WBC title. Then last weekend, Manny Pacquiao defended his WBA international title, handing Eric Morales the first knockout loss of his professional career. With the month of January coming to an end, February looks to be even more exciting and action-packed.
On February 4th, in El Paso, Texas, Jose Luis Castillo (53-7-1, 47 KO’s) was scheduled to take on Diego Corrales in a rubber match for the WBC/WBO lightweight championship. It was unfortunate that Diego Corrales suffered an injury, forcing him to pull out the bout, but Rolando Reyes (26-3-2, 16 KO’s) is stepping in for Corrales and will take on Castillo. After coming off a close split decision win over Ivan Cabrera last October, Reyes would love to make a statement by defeating Jose Luis Castillo.
Then on February 18th, a triple championship card will be taking place inside the Aladdin Casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The WBO strawweight champion, Ivan Calderon (24-0, 5 KO’s), defends his title against former WBC champ Isaac Bustos (24-7-3, 13 KO’s). Also, Brian Viloria (18-0, 12 KO’s) defends his WBC junior flyweight title against Jose Antonio Aguirre (33-4-1, 20 KO’s). Finally, Antonio Margarito (32-4, 23 KO’s) defends his WBO welterweight title in the main event against Manuel Gomez (28-10-2, 19 KO’s).
Less than a week later, on February 24th, former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (43-10-2, 29 KO’s) takes on Richard Hall (27-5, 25 KO’s) for the vacant IBA light heavyweight championship at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida. Also on the card, heavyweights David Tua (44-3-1, 38 KO’s) and Timor Ibragimov (20-0-1, 12 KO’s) are scheduled for separate bouts.
The next evening, at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, Shane Mosley (41-4, 35 KO’s) will finally meet Fernando Vargas (26-2, 22 KO’s) in a WBA super welterweight eliminator. On the undercard, Jhonny Gonzalez (31-4, 27 KO’s) will make the first defense of his WBO bantamweight title against Mark Johnson (44-4, 28 KO’s). Also, heavyweight prospect Calvin Brock (27-0, 21 KO’s) will take on Zuri Lawrence (20-10-4, 0 KO’s) in a ten round bout.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Shannon Briggs (45-4-1, 39 KO’s) continues his quest back to the championship picture when he takes on Chris Koval (23-2, 18 KO’s) for the vacant USBA and NABA heavyweight titles.
In London, England, Matt Skelton (18-0, 17 KO’s) will face Danny Williams (34-4, 28 KO’s) for the British championship and the Commonwealth championship. The winner of this bout is rumored to possibly get a title-shot at the current WBA heavyweight champion Nicolay Valuev.
Finishing off the month, on February 27th in Osaka, Japan, Masamori Tokuyama (31-3-1, 8 KO’s) will defend his WBC super flyweight title against Jose Navarro (23-1, 11 KO’s). With nine successful defenses during the last six years, Tokuyama is looking to make his tenth successful defense. However, the 24 year-old American, Navarro, is hungry for a title and could be ready to make an impact.
We’re only one month into the New Year and world titles are already changing hands rapidly. Will titles continue changing hands? How many new faces will there be by the end of this year? As we go into the month of February, perhaps the upsets will continue and we will witness more new champions emerge onto the boxing scene.

Pacquiao-Morales II almost did not push through

IT will be exactly two weeks from now when Manny Pacquiao climbs the ring opposite Erik Morales in a blockbuster rematch expected to usher a series of big bouts for the new year. But unknown to many, the return bout between two of the biggest stars in the super-featherweight division almost didn't push through after Morales failed to keep his own end of the bargain during a big promotional fight which Bob Arum's Top Rank presented at the Staples Center in Los Angeles California on September 10. Pacquiao's American manager, Shelly Finkel, and promoter Gary Shaw were both having second thoughts back then about the possibility of the Filipino ring sensation fighting again the Mexican three-time world champion shortly following Morales' stunning decision loss to Olympian Zahir Raheem. "Shelly and I had a discussionthat night," admitted Shaw before a teleconference held in California to promote the highly-anticipated rematch set January 21 (January 22 Manila time) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. "It was up in the air at that moment," said Finkel. The fight card, which also included Pacquiao taking on Mexican Hector Velasquez in a non-title bout, was meant as tune up matches for the two hard-hitting fighters leading to their expected rematch after engaging in a toe-to-toe slugfest at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas March 19 of last year which Morales won by a unanimous but close decision. Unlike Morales, the Filipino southpaw posted a convincing victory over Velasquez whom he knocked out in the sixth round. For a while, Finkel and Shaw tinkered of fighting instead Juan Marco Antonio Barrera or Juan Manuel Marquez. "We would have looked at the regular guys, whether it be you know, a rematch with Barrera, a rematch with Marquez or whoever," said Finkel. In the end, Pacquiao's handlers decided Morales was still the best choice. "It happened too quick. But we felt it was the best thing for Manny to avenge the loss and then hopefully, he does that and we can go on to a third match or a Barrera fight or whoever else," Finkel said. The decision of the Morales camp to agree to the rematch made it easier for Finkel and Shaw to sign the dotted line. "We just thought that they (Morales) may not want it and that they may want to take an easier fight. So we were looking at other options," said Finkel. "But they wanted it and we wanted it." Now the stage is set for one of the year's biggest fights, the second installment of what was voted by the World Boxing Council (WBC) as the Most Dramatic Fight of 2005. Despite Morales coming off a lackluster performance, Shaw believes the rematch still has the making of an epic. "For sure it would have been better if Morales won (over Raheem)," said Shaw. "But I don't think it will affect the Pay-Per-View because the first fight was so great that I think the fans know they are going to get the same fight right back again. Obviously, we hope with a different result." The first Pacquiao-Morales fight drew a record audience of 375,000 household on PPV.

Arum Lines Up Top Fights for 2006

Bob Arum is not the giddy type. But the chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc. on Tuesday seemed downright thrilled at what he will be providing boxing fans during the upcoming year.It begins Jan. 21, when Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao square off in a rematch at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Then Feb. 4, Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo will meet in a third fight, a lightweight championship rubber match that will take place in El Paso, Texas.Antonio Margarito will defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight belt against Manuel Gomez on Feb. 18 at the Aladdin in Las Vegas and Miguel Cotto will defend his WBO junior welterweight belt against Raul Balbi on March 4 in Puerto Rico.It gets better. Hasim Rahman will make a defense of his WBC heavyweight championship against James "Lights Out" Toney on March 18 in Atlantic City. And, perhaps biggest of all, Floyd Mayweather Jr. will challenge welterweight champion Zab Judah for one of his three titles - the World Boxing Council belt - on April 8 at Thomas & Mack Center.That's just the terrific beginning."Every two weeks we have a fight through the beginning of April," Arum said. "We're going to take a look at who comes out victorious, and we'll start planning fights for May. We have some great fights we're going to do this year."If they are both successful, we are thinking of matching Cotto and Castillo (both of whom are promoted by Arum) and then have the winner fight Mayweather if Mayweather beats Judah, in the fall. We are also looking for some big fights with Morales. If Morales beats Pacquiao, we would be looking for a rematch with Zahir Raheem and also maybe a fight with Jaun Manuel Marquez."Of the Top Rank fights already set, there is no question that the Rahman-Toney and Mayweather-Judah matchups are the most outstanding. Arum recently re-signed Mayweather to a two-year contract, and Arum said Tuesday he is hopeful that a victory over Judah will help Mayweather become the marketable commodity the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world should be."I think this fight with Judah will do that," Arum said. "Judah is very competitive with him and it will be a really interesting match; it will be high visibility."And I think it's clear that, unlike the (Arturo) Gatti fight, where Floyd was the B side, he's going to be the A side in this matchup."Mayweather is 35-0 with 24 knockouts. He is 14-0 in world title fights and has won championships in the super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight divisions. Despite Mayweather's incredible talent, he has not been able to capture the public's imagination like other greats of past and present. The reasons are a matter of opinion, but the bottom line is, Mayweather is only 28 and his story has not yet been completely written."It's not too late; we still have a number of years to go," Arum said. "He's really right up there with the great fighters (Arum has promoted). He's right up there with Sugar Ray Leonard, with Marvin Hagler. With Alexis Arguello. He's one of the best."He has incredibly fast reflexes and is probably the smartest of all the fighters since Muhammad Ali."Switching gears to Toney-Rahman, we seem to have a heavyweight title fight with some bite. Vitali Klitschko-Rahman, which was to take place last month, would have been a somewhat high-profile fight, but now that Klitschko has retired, this seems to be the next best thing.That's why Arum went for it. He had already won a purse bid for Rahman-Klitschko, and after that bout was canceled because of a knee injury sustained by Klitschko, Arum went on record as saying how much he liked working with Rahman, who won his freedom from Don King in bankruptcy court before signing a 3-year contract with Arum.The WBC already had crowned interim champion Rahman as permanent champion, and it ordered negotiations begin for Rahman-Toney. Fifteeen minutes before a purse bid was to take place, Arum offered Toney and his co-promoters, Dan Goossen and King, $2.8 million, to allow him to promote the fight."They accepted a sum of money for themselves and Toney and we were off to the races," Arum said. "In other words, we bought them out."Goossen confirmed the dynamics of the deal, and added that he and King will retain rights to Toney after the fight with Rahman, regardless of who wins.Before we get to Toney-Rahman and Judah-Mayweather, however, there will be some business to take care of in El Paso - Castillo-Corrales III. To say this rivalry has been filled with controversy, would be an understatement.Corrales spitting out his mouthpiece after each of two knockdowns he suffered in the 10th round undoubtedly helped him recover enough to stop Castillo in the 10th in one of the greatest fights in history last May.And there is no question that Castillo not sweating out the last 3 1/2 pounds to make 135 helped him retain some added strength before he knocked out Corrales in the fourth round in the rematch last October. Castillo didn't win Corrales' WBO and WBC belts because he failed to make weight, but he probably didn't care after registering the spectacular knockout.Those two fights were in Las Vegas, where most of today's bigger fights are held. So, why El Paso for the third one?"Well, we've got so much in Las Vegas, we have to take some of these matches to other places," Arum said. "I mean, there's a limit to what Vegas can draw. And we don't want all big-time boxing to exclusively come out of Vegas. I have Morales-Pacquiao in Vegas, I have Margarito-(Gomez) in Vegas, I have Mayweather Jr.-(Judah) in Vegas."So, you gotta spread it around. Now, El Paso has done extremely well with Hispanic-type fights. I'll have a sold-out crown at the Don Haskins Center. So, it was a natural."(Taylor-Wright) Goossen promotes Sam Soliman, who recently did well in going the distance in a loss against Winky Wright, who is the mandatory challenger to the WBA and WBC middleweight belts held by Jermain Taylor, who also is WBO champion.Goossen on Tuesday said, "I am working on a fight for Sam Soliman to fight Jermain Taylor."Gary Shaw, who promotes Wright, scoffed at that notion when contacted by telephone Tuesday."I just talked to an Arkansas sports writer and he said Lou DiBella told him he wants Winky next," Shaw said.DiBella promotes Taylor, of Little Rock, Ark. He said he indeed told an Arkansas reporter he would like to make Taylor's next fight against Wright, but he still isn't certain it can be made to everyone's satisfaction.DiBella said that preliminary talks have begun with Goossen for a fight against Soliman. DiBella also said he has made a formal offer to representatives of Felix Sturm, the former WBO champion. A fight with either, as well as one with Howard Eastman, could be an alternative to Taylor-Wright, which has been ordered by the WBC.DiBella said that since the fight is slated for regular HBO, there is not enough money to satisfy Wright, or Taylor, for that matter. He said Wright would have to be satisfied with a 60-40 split of a medium-size purse."We're going to try and make the fight in Little Rock," DiBella said of Taylor-Wright. "Gary and I talked and frankly, it's a matter of dollars and cents."DiBella noted that he has no intention of allowing Taylor to be stripped of his WBC belt. A fight with anyone other than Wright would come only if Wright turned it down.

Taylor-Wright Fight Appears Unlikely

The much-discussed middleweight title fight between Jermain Taylor and Winky Wright is on shaky ground after negotiations appeared to have broken down Monday.
Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, made an offer last week that would have paid Wright about $3 million for a live fight on HBO. Taylor would have received around $4 million.
On Monday, Wright's team asked for a 50-50 split, and DiBella responded by saying the fight probably won't happen.
"We are not going to be bullied by Winky Wright's people," DiBella said.
Taylor (25-0) beat Bernard Hopkins in July to win the middleweight championship, then beat him again last month. After that first title defense, Taylor's team said it wanted his next fight to be in his home state of Arkansas - he's fought before at North Little Rock's Alltel Arena.
But the WBC ordered Taylor to make his next defense against Wright (50-3). Had DiBella's offer from last week been accepted, the fight would have probably been held in Memphis, Tenn.
If the two sides don't reach an agreement by Jan. 30, a purse offer could be held in which other promoters would have the chance to bid for the fight. But DiBella has said Taylor's team would risk losing the WBC belt, rather than accept an unfair deal.
Taylor, of Little Rock, gave up his IBF title when he fought the rematch against Hopkins instead of a mandatory IBF defense.
"We're not going to be treated unfairly due to a ratings organization's mandatory," DiBella said. "There's a chance we still might go to purse bid. We still have to figure that out. But in terms of negotiations, the negotiations have ended."
Wright's promoter, Gary Shaw, said he believes DiBella is serious when he says there will be no more negotiations.
"All he did was hurt Jermain Taylor," Shaw said. "He didn't hurt me, he didn't hurt Winky. He hurt boxing and he hurt Jermain because this is an important fight for boxing, an important fight for HBO, at a time when boxing's hurting for real good matches."