Denied the spectacle of a knockout or even just a vicious brawl, several paying spectators at an SM Megamall theater in Mandaluyong City immediately headed for the exit after sitting through the 12-round bout—no longer bothering to wait for the formal result or the post-fight hoopla.
“Of course, expectations were not met,” said Loy Kaloso, a bank employee from Pasig City. “It was still a little exciting, though.”
“Boring. Definitely not his best fight,” said Justin Cagayat, 21, of Los Baños town in Laguna province.
Koloso and Cagayat may have echoed the sentiments of millions of Filipinos who cheered Pacquiao as the world champ chalked up a lopsided win over Joshua Clottey, the heftier but gun-shy challenger from Ghana.
“[Clottey] did not put up a fight. He was playing it safe,” Kaloso said, noting that Pacquiao’s 12th-round stoppage of Miguel Cotto, who also backpedaled in the final rounds, was far more thrilling to watch in November last year.
“Clottey might have wanted to keep his record of having no knockouts [while] Pacquiao just wanted to [have a] fight before the elections,” Cagayat added, alluding to the latter’s congressional bid in the May polls.
Comments posted on social networking sites also saw the fight as a big letdown if compared to the Pacman’s furious finishes in the past.
Rem de Leon, 30, posted on his Facebook account: “The MOST exciting part of the whole fight … was the post-fight interview.”
“12 rounds of boredom. Grabe, walang nangyari, parang hindi Pacquiao fight (Nothing really happened, as though it was not a Pacquiao fight). Congratulations to Manny though,” Ive Dela Fuente, 20, also posted on Facebook.
At the SM Megamall cinema, only a mild applause greeted the announcement of Pacquiao’s unanimous win over Clottey.
Arnel’s rendition
Ironically, the day’s heartiest cheers probably went to Arnel Pineda, the Filipino frontman of the US rock band Journey, who sang the Philippine national anthem in the pre-fight intros.
Like many anthem singers before him, Pineda may be courting controversy for veering from the official version of “Lupang Hinirang.” The power balladeer opted for a slower tempo and ended a few notes higher than the state-sanctioned melody.
“Clearly, Clottey was no match for Pacquiao,” said Arlan Delamida, a driver who watched the fight along with his boss at the Greenbelt 3 cinema in Makati City.
Still, Delamida was quick to spot something new in the Pacman’s arsenal: In the fourth round, the Filipino ring icon unleashed a “two-handed strike,” not unlike the movement of a man playing the cymbals, which pounded both sides of Clottey’s head in one beating.
Delamida and other spectators burst in laughter upon realizing that they had seen this kind of a pincer-like punch before—in the movies!
Like FPJ in action
“Parang FPJ yun ah (He fights like FPJ),” one fan beamed, referring to the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. and his signature street-fighting move that came to be known as pompyang (literally, cymbals).
When up against cinematic villains, Poe would usually use the pompyang to punctuate a flurry of punches.
Delamida said he didn’t expect Clottey, who kept his guard up practically during the entire fight, to be knocked down.
Shellborn Lagar, a fireman enjoying his dayoff, shared the same view: The overly defensive Ghanaian was tough as nails. “He kept on putting his guard up during the whole bout. Maybe that’s why Manny wasn’t able to put him down.”
“Clottey kept his head down, which was smart of him,” added Gerry Lopez, a restaurant employee.
Pacquiao diehards, including some who came in Pacman shirts, started arriving at Greenbelt as early as 7 a.m.—or at least five hours early—for the main event.
Retirement?
In Sta. Ana, Manila, a satisfied fanatic who saw the fight live in a covered basketball court said Pacquiao should not consider retirement anytime in the near future for the sake of the sport.
“He can still fight. He is really my idol and boxing would not be as much fun without him,” said Samuel Ragus, 26. “There’s always a zero-crime rate whenever he fights. He cannot retire yet.”
“It is still possible for him to fight even if he becomes a congressman, isn’t it?” Ragus said. Pacquiao is gunning for a House seat as representative of Sarangani province in the May elections.
For Cholo Flameno, 53, Pacquiao still has four to five fights left in him before he hangs up his gloves. “He is still young. Pacquiao is tough,” he said.
“[But] he should not go into politics anymore. He should just concentrate on boxing. There are a lot of other ways he can help [the people] and I don’t think it’s through politics,” Flameno said.
“The fight was not so satisfying since Clottey kept on covering his face,” said Pedro Ambos, a manager at the National Power Corp. (Napocor), which made sure there wouldn’t be brownouts in Mindanao at least during the fight.
“Had Clottey not covered his face, he would have been knocked out,” said Col. Leo Ferrer, commander of the 601st Brigade based in Lanao.
“He (Pacquiao) gave us another reason to be proud, but his fights are becoming boring,” said University of the Philippines-Los Baños student Karl Suministrado, 18.
In the Visayan cities of Cebu, Maasin, Tacloban, Bacolod and Iloilo, many Pacquiao fans were also disappointed with what they called a “boring” fight.
“Way lami! (This is not fun at all)” was the common complaint heard from the thousands who gathered for the public viewings sponsored by local politicians.
Mother’s worry
But as always, Pacquiao’s mother Dionisia saw it differently. Never complacent whenever her now ultra-rich son enters the ring, she and her friends came together to pray for the whole duration of the fight.
The Pacman’s “prayer brigade” stormed the heavens at the Pacquiao mansion at Lagao village in General Santos City. At Dionisia’s side was Pacquiao’s youngest daughter, Queen Elizabeth, and the boxer’s eldest sister Liza Onding.
For the nth time, Dionisia said she would try to convince her son upon his return from the United States to finally walk away from the ring and just focus on his family and businesses.
“His opponents are getting bigger. It’s really scary,” she told reporters in Filipino. “He should really quit boxing. And besides, he has already saved a lot of money and has put up many businesses.”
In Cubao, Quezon City, another admirer Michelle Rondela went out of this world to come up with the highest praise: “Manny Pacquiao is an alien. He’s that good.”
But Rondela, who watched the fight at Araneta Coliseum, also admitted being disappointed that there was no knockout to “thrill” her Sunday.
She said she only became a boxing fan “because of Manny” and after watching him send Britain’s Ricky Hatton to the canvas last year with a thunderbolt to the jaw.
“He is everything,” added Ramon Casanova, 74, a former government official who came to the coliseum for the fight, in a wheelchair.
“You are very good, iconic and you’re the best. And we hope you will never give a thought to enter politics.” Casanova said, airing what may already be a late appeal to his idol.
“I was never a boxing fan, I am here for Pacquiao and I'm proud to be a Filipino,” said Wendy Bayani, who came with her husband and their two daughters.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
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