Bare Eye
Manny Pacquiao ‘acquitted’
By Recah TrinidadPhilippine Daily Inquirer
HAS MANNY Pacquiao been impeached as world pound-for-pound boxing king?
Definitely not, says this latest genuine information from Los Angeles, California, very close to where experts conduct the vote for the P4P pick.
Actually, there immediately rose two contrasting suspicions on why and how Pacquiao allegedly got ousted as pound-for-pound ruler.
Several avid Pacquiao watchers blamed it on his excruciating stand against Juan Manuel Marquez, who continued to cry that he had been robbed of deserved victory.
Much later, pundits started to include Pacquiao’s tax record controversy, which had been played up worldwide, among the factors that supposedly pulled down and demoted the national boxing icon.
Bad news, indeed.
***
But here’s the good news—the truth.
“Someone forwarded me your article about The Ring Magazine poll (‘Has Pacquiao Been Impeached?’),” stated Gary Andrew Poole, author and respected boxing expert who writes for Time International.
Poole, whose celebrated book “Pacman: Behind the scenes with Manny Pacquiao” readily hit it big in the market, asked that he be allowed to set the record straight.
“Just wanted to let you know: I don’t know about the other boxing scribes, but Michael Rosenthal asked me for my top 10 pound-for-pound rank a couple of months ago, before the Pacquiao tax story hit the news. Anything that happens outside of the ring doesn’t concern me in P4P rankings. It’s all about skill and smarts inside the ring, and how a boxer performs against quality opposition.
***
But did you participate in the vote?
“I don’t regularly participate in The Ring poll, or any poll for that matter. But just to let you know: this wasn’t a Ring Ratings poll. I can understand the confusion, but several writers in the Filipino boxing media got this one wrong: Rosenthal asked 10 of us for our pound-for-pound fighter as part of a story in the magazine. Please check but as far as I know the poll is not the official position of The Ring, just a poll of various scribes. (You can ask Rosenthal but The Ring still has Pacquiao as number one P4P; all the sturm und drang over ‘Pacquiao losing the P4P The Ring ranking’ does not appear to have any validity.)”
***
Just the same, did you vote for Pacquiao or Mayweather?
“I have watched both fighters ringside for their last several fights and so I think I am a pretty fair judge. I told Michael that I split the P4P crown between Pacquiao and Mayweather. (Both men have their strengths and weaknesses in the ring, and right now, given their competition of late, I see it as a draw.) Polls are just polls. P4P rankings are simply opinions. As you know, there is only one way to prove who is the best.”
***
Thank you very kindly, sir.
As they say, all’s well that ends well.
Let’s hope that dream bout materializes in order to determine who’s really the best.
Let’s also pray for Pacquiao’s continued well-being and success.
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Tags: Boxing , Manny Pacquiao
