Manny Pacquiao, more than trainer Freddie Roach, knows best how to use his killer left hand.
In fact, Pacquiao has vowed to explode and pour all (his might) against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their clash for the generation’s top-of-the-world boxing kingship in Las Vegas.
This also means Pacquiao, despite the call of the years, is supremely sure he has enough gas and ammunition to win the biggest fight of his life on May 2.
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Well, as friends have never ceased to get my feel on who would win the megabout, I’ve continued to swear: “Gusto ko si Manny manalo, pero hindi ako pupusta.”
I’d want Manny to win, but I won’t wager.
I was asked my reason for this by a CNN man last week, and honestly told him: “These are hard times.”
Yes, unlike with Pacquiao, I could not dare gamble with what little is left in my pocket.
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Anyway, it’s also easy to say that, the way he has sounded in his latest pronouncement, Pacquiao must’ve been wholly convinced Mayweather no longer has enough strength and stamina to counter and nip him.
That, the physical superiority (complex), is a main goad, a major weapon that must be brought whole into the boxing ring.
Manny could indeed have the upper hand in this area.
But there’s a little problem here. Based on Pacquiao’s actuation in that first face-to-face meeting with Mayweather in Miami last month, his impression of the superior ring tactician he has vowed to mangle in May is sure to play out during their bout, billed as fight of the century this early.
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It’s like this. Based on photos of that initial meeting, Pacquiao did look daunted, if not exactly stunned, by the luminous presence that accosted him during the break in the Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks NBA game.
No need to confirm it with Manny but he must’ve realized, right there and then, that the magnificent presence before him, a born super athlete like Michael Jordan, is not the sort he could hope to easily conquer in an even test of craft and competence.
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Mayweather still loomed cozy and confident with his certified sharpness and wisdom.
The call of the jungle therefore is to overrun the superior tactician, no ifs, no buts.
So let it go, let it gooo, kill him dead.
But please also bear in mind what Mayweather’s trainer father has blithely observed that you (also) excel with the ability “to block shots” with your head, Sir Pacman.