Let Manny recover

We’ve said it many times in this space: The joy of sports is having an opinion and tossing it into the ring and mixing it up with others who have similar or opposing views.

The milieu for the sports talk could be a bar, a corner sari-sari store, a basketball court, the barbershop, the market place or even social media. Just keep it cool everyone because there’s really no need to lose your temper or insult others when the topic is sports.

Politics could also be an interesting topic to have a take on but many tell me that views can become so personal and that tempers can go berserk in this area.

But two weeks after Manny Pacquiao lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via a unanimous decision, there are still lively discussions on the quality of the fight, the mind-blowing pay-per-view sales, the CompuBox count of the punches and others.

Pacquiao’s return home this week has also fueled more talk, even bordering on a discussion on whether the eight-division champion should now hang up his gloves.

Here’s what we should consider: Pacquiao is entitled to his own opinion on the fight and his belief that he may have won closely. After all, he was inside the ring when it happened.

But to the judges and many pundits who have followed boxing for the longest time, Pacquiao did not conquer that day and Mayweather simply ran away with another win.

Unlike the knockout delivered by Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao clearly did not feel anything solid from Mayweather. And this is why Pacquiao remains unimpressed with the undefeated American.

And this is why we can continue to discuss the merits and demerits of the fight as to whether it was a rip-off or just another Mayweather win to ignore. Mayweather simply used boxing’s rules and parameters to his advantage. It was not convincing so to speak and definitely a win not in sync with the Battle for Greatness title tagged on the fight.

Pacquiao will now earn some well-deserved rest and the healing period needed to mend his torn shoulder will provide him some sufficient reflection time.

On the subject of retirement, only he can decide when to hang up his gloves. We shouldn’t be in a rush to get him out of the sports pages because he alone can assess the playing field and his own strengths and weaknesses at his current age.

His team will also review how they handle Pacquiao’s affairs because the shoulder injury was not properly addressed.

Continue to have an opinion on the fight and all sports for that matter. This is the thrill of watching and following and then turning to the last page of the main section of the daily newspaper to see if your sports opinion matches the results and analysis.