Mexican boxer’s Juan chance to beat Manny Pacquiao
It has been 10 years since Manny Pacquiao, who was then a five-time world champion in five different weight divisions, defeated Oscar De La Hoya via technical knockout in their non-title welterweight superfight in Las Vegas on December 6, 2008.
It has also been six years since he, already a six-division boxing champ, lost to his Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their in their non-title ‘Champion of the Decade’ welterweight battle in Las Vegas on December 8, 2012.
It only takes Juan man, an orthodox and counterpuncher, to beat Manny, a southpaw and Mexicutioner.
It only takes Juan match to put Manny to sleep.
Remember, the Mexican had a 0-2-1 (win-loss-draw) record against the boxing congressman (now a senator and apparent 2022 presidential candidate) from Sarangani, one of the poorest province in the Philippines, prior to their 4th and final meeting in 2012. The Mexican won the most important match of their intense rivalry, which started in 2003 and ended in a controversial draw.
That Juan punch – a right jab – at the last second of the sixth round rendered the whole Filipino nation speechless.
That lucky punch, as Manny Pacquiao would call it when he got up, did not put the Filipinos to sleep because it was still too early in the afternoon of Sunday. They were not done yet with church, family picnic, mall, or cockfighting. Back in Las Vegas, it was still Saturday; it was close to midnight when the Philippine boxing icon decided to say ‘good-night’ to his fans.
Juan day to talk about religion
The ‘Champion of the Decade’ bout between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez took place on December 8, 2012, which was a Saturday. That day was also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Catholic major holy day.
Given the time zone differences between Las Vegas, Nevada and the Philippines, Filipinos watched the fight on December 9, which was a Sunday.
Pacquiao immediately became the butt of memes after his loss to Marquez. The Filipino was the planking champion. The Mexican was the ‘Champion of the Decade’.
2012 was not only the year Pacquiao lost twice (he lost to Timothy Bradley in June) but also the year he officially renounced his Catholic religion and embraced Evangelical Protestantism. He is now a fervent Bible-quoting Born Again Christian.
Pacquiao stopped making the sign of the cross and wearing the rosary around his neck since his bout with Bradley, which he lost. Several Filipino Catholics were dismayed about the Philippine boxing icon abandoning his Catholic religion for evangelical Christianity.
The knockout loss came on a Catholic holy day and some people cannot help but think this may be the work of a higher power. A Filipino-American told Philippine Daily Inquirer, “I think it’s a sign of God because before he fights he always have that cross. And every time he goes to the fight he always have that and I was surprised he doesn’t have that cross yesterday.”
Pacquiao lost his faith and his fight. He lost twice in the year the Catholic Church officially declared to be a Year of Faith.
Online news outlet Rappler reported that Pacquiao ditched the Mass, the highest form of Catholic worship, for a Christian service in his hotel room. Attending Mass used to be one of his main-pre-fight rituals. Not anymore.
For one boxing fan, there was more to Manny Pacquiao’s crush defeat at the right jab of Juan Manuel Marquez than inadequate preparation, distraction, etc. It was religion, of course. Pacquiao’s losses that year are, according to the fan, part of God’s grand design.
“He was knocked out by Marquez on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion. And if you count the number of letters in the word “virgin”, it could tally with the number of rounds in which Juan Manuel Marquez knocked the daylights out of him.”
His mother, popularly called Mommy Dionesia, took the loss hard. She blamed her son’s Protestant pastor-friends for his loss. She was sad that he removed her religious icons; he did not even give her money for travel to Rome for the canonization of Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino saint. He instead satisfied the needs of his pastor-friends.
A senior churchman was quick to dismiss the role of religion in the loss of Manny Pacquiao to Juan Manuel Marquez. The defeat should not be blamed on religion; it, however, has a message. He told Cebu Daily News, “His change of religion has nothing to do with his defeats. We really just have limitations. Manny wasn’t able to see Marquez’s punch coming.
“We can’t be certain of anything. The circumstances don’t put us on top at all times. That’s what we call the wheel of life—sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down… We are human beings. We are limited. None of us is supreme. No matter how great we are, there will be an end to everything.”
Pacquiao should not have mixed boxing, politics, and showbiz all together.
And sometimes, you cannot have it all. Life’s a wheel. Sometimes, you are at the top; sometimes, you come down.
Manny Pacquiao is all about the money
I was a Pacquiao fan for just a few years until I stopped supporting him in late 2006 because I found out he was all about the money. He is a Filipino. He is a prize-fighter but for me, he is no patriot.
He helps people out of his own pockets but not without proselytizing first, which, for me, is not a good thing to do. Though it is not a bad thing to preach the Word of God, he takes advantage of the people’s spiritual malnourishment to spearhead his own religious agenda. He even told government workers in his province to memorize Bible verses if they want to receive Christmas goodies from him.
Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao may be but he is no sports icon. He did little in promoting the importance of sports. He even chose another country, China, to establish his boxing academy. Worse, he withdrew his support for Pacquiao PowerVit Pilipinas Aguilas, the lone Philippine team competing in the 2015-2016 season of the Asean Basketball League (ABL).
Pacquiao is also a traditional politician who switched parties. He is even creating his own political party. Worse, he is mum on the many socio-political and economic issues that affect Filipinos. What a guy!
Too bad that knockout by Juan Manuel Marquez failed to send Manny Pacquiao to heaven.
Pacquiao’s boxing fights are never for the Philippines. They are for his family and friends. Of course, for almost all Filipinos, it is family first, country later… or never.
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