AFTER Manny Pacquiao, a playing coach in the PBA, was called a “big joke,” the ageless freedom warrior Rene Saguisag dug in and said that, instead of commissioner Chito Salud, it’s the eight-division world boxing champ who should leave the pro league.
That was a nasty 1-2 blow that, if landed inside the boxing ring, could’ve stunned and dazed the victim.
Pacquiao took the shots with dignity and quiet grace.
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It was not a glide, but what should bother legions of Filipino boxing fans was the statement made by trainer Freddie Roach that the Filipino boxing superhero, a certified national treasure, has lost his killer instinct.
It was the first time Roach had made the tacit admission.
“Does he have the killer instinct he once had?” Roach said in a talk with FightHype in Los Angeles. “I have to answer honestly. I don’t think so.”
Roach, saying Pacquiao’s swirling carefree lifestyle that had included gambling, drinking and women, plus diminished testosterone, could’ve contributed to the decline in fierceness.
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This is what they have to live with now, Roach said, adding that on-fight passivity could get in the way when Pacquiao clashes with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at MGM Grand on May 2.
Roach said Pacquiao could let Mayweather off the hook once he hurts him.
That should be music to the ears of Mayweather who, before yesterday’s official fight announcement, posted a video of himself doing his bit on the basketball court.
Mayweather, gliding with his display of classy book-form shooting, had unwittingly called attention to Pacquiao’s limited basketball prowess, which was branded as a joke by the Purefoods import after his team had lost to Pacquiao’s rookie Kia outfit.
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Maybe all Mayweather had wanted to do was show his basketball skills, but at the same time, it could be taken as a statement of how vastly superior he is in craft and overall athletic ability.
Which should mean that, while Pacquiao had smiled off nasty taunts, like that joke-joke dig, he should go all out, rage relentless and rouse the hungry, angry lion in him to re-assume his role as the unforgiving Pacific Storm when he meets Mayweather in a bout billed in advance as the fight of the century.