Bare Eye
Clinch-and-kiss Pacman bares worst weakness
By Recah Trinidad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:07:00 01/14/2008
Filed Under: Boxing, Pacquiao
MANILA, Philippines -- At 29 and after nearly 50 professional fights, some of them terrible and very bloody, Manny Pacquiao is now undoubtedly a grandmaster.
The Pacman is also at his prime but, then, he’s not only a certified stopper of opponents.
He’s also great at disseminating punches.
For instance, Pacquiao knows by instinct the intent, caliber and sharpness of a blow before this could be thrown at him.
Call it inner radar or whatever, but this rare ability has propped Pacquiao to become the greatest living Filipino fighter of our time.
* * *
Look. Pacquiao had no scheduled fight or sparring last week.
Just the same, the boxing superstar did a terrific job dodging, with a wave of his hand, the series of party photos that caught him in a clinch-and-kiss session with a lovely female in green.
Old photos rehashed, Pacquiao declared of the saucy pictures.
A dirty try to put him down, Pacquiao added.
Unfortunately, he could not get back at the anonymous attacker who did the trick through the Internet.
* * *
Pacquiao, in that clandestine bout, also earned the new label “Chickboy ng Bayan (takot kay kumander).”
Efforts to identify the woman in the pictures have proved futile.
There was self-styled chief of staff Jake Joson seen cheering Pacquiao a la trainer Freddie Roach in the beer-fueled floor session.
But then, Joson cannot be expected to tell whether the clinch was followed by some torrid exchanges.
This would have been censored, anyway.
* * *
Will Pacquiao sue for libel or get back at the cyber poster, once identification is determined?
There’s every reason to believe Pacquiao, backed by geniuses in his staff, could resort to legal means in order to get even.
But, in case he would care to dig deeper, this perceived enemy could also have some noble intent.
No kidding.
Looking at it positively, it’s easy to suspect those party photos were mainly intended for Freddie Roach.
* * *
How and why?
Well, if you bothered to look closer and discern, the photos also showed Pacquiao at his weakest.
That he allowed himself to be photographed in a compromising situation already unraveled a major flaw that could resurface inside the boxing ring.
Simply put, those colorful photos of Pacquiao in a love dance showed how dumb and poor he has been at improving on defense.
* * *
Trainer Freddie Roach need not be retold that Pacquiao, as could be seen in those photos, always drops his guard whenever he goes for the kill!
Yes, Pacquiao always throws caution to the wind while throwing killer punches.
He readily loses a proper reading of things, including coming punches.
In fact, this had been Pacquiao’s biggest fault in his first fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.
Now, would Roach again allow Pacquiao to commit the same mistakes when he clashes with Marquez in Las Vegas on March 15?
Those clinch-and-kiss photos should actually help Pacquiao from losing to himself.
But, before everything else, Roach must do his homework.
He should work on emergency adjustments, based on those hated party pictures showing red-hot Pacquiao at peak manhood, but at his worst in defense.
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