Travel Light

It’s been all about winning for Pacman from the boxing ring to the political arena. Whenever he wins, every Filipino also shares the victory.

Boxing Writers Association of America honored Manny Pacquiao as “Fighter of the Year”. This was the third time Pacman receives the award. His coach/trainer Freddie Roach was the “Trainer of the Year”. Pacquaio was also hailed as “Fighter of the Decade”.

Obviously, we know why Pacquiao won again this year. Last year, he had put British boxer Ricky Hatton to sleep and beat Puerto Rican fighter Miguel Cotto on the 12th round. A few months ago, he played hide and seek with Joshua Clottey in the most boring fight ever. (I swear I fell asleep in the middle of watching it in CPK. I should have watched weight loss success stories being aired on those home TV shopping channels instead.)

Congratulations, Pacman. Seal that fight deal with Mayweather and beat him to pulp.

I saw this one while in between browsing Canadian immigration websites (hint) and assembling an office furniture. The video game “Pacman” was given a new form, and it took its latest inspiration from the Philippine boxing champ, Manny Pacquiao, and the other boxers who went down with their eyes swollen. This was designed by a guy named Ralph Reigner Esquivias. I find this really nice and funny. Maybe Nike should do a shirt on this.

Good for the health.

The design has not been updated so far, with the addition of Joshua Clottey of Ghana who recently boxed with Manny in a turtle-like manner.

There are usually two things every boxing afficionado would love to see during a Pacquiao event – the person who gets to sing the national anthem and the boxers of the main event.

Journey’s Arnel Pineda certainly did not disappoint. He was an extremely talented guy whose pitch soared up to the rooftop of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. But come main event, I zonked out.

I fell asleep watching Pacquiao boxed an unresponsive Clottey. But it’s okay. It was free (perks of the job). If I paid a whopping P800 ticket to see Clottey act like a wall of Jericho, I would have punched him myself. It would be tad easier, like popping an adult acne to oblivion.

Clottey decided to be Pacquiao’s punching bag. Most of the time he was behind his boxing gloves shielding himself from those fiery combinations. And that obviously was a no-brainer.

It was rather an easy task than to get head-to-head with the pound-for-pound king. He had no title to lose, not even a reputation to rescue. If he went down on the floor, it’s still a win-win situation for him. He takes home a pricey cut from their boxing and PPV shares. So he shielded himself from those punches all the 12 rounds in order to come of it alive and be able to enjoy the booty.

That’s what exactly happened today. On the bad side, Clottey also earned the ire of millions of viewers who felt robbed watching a boring fight.