Who can stop The Rematch now?

It’s the season to be jolly, and we all have Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who did play hardworking Santa to his countless adoring fans here and elsewhere in the world, to thank. While the wanton fight against the drug menace by the Duterte government continued to deliver black eyes, if not punches below the belt, Pacquiao gave us back that win-win feeling, coupled with the holiday hope for things to be a lot better again.

All Pacquiao did was do the expected, deliver a clear and honest  win to reclaim his world welterweight crown which, by the way, he had held at least a couple of times before.

There was nothing exclusively new there, although he got back his old world boxing title, a feat that promptly promoted him as the only crown-wearing working senator in the world, rarest of species.

Out there in the village slum market, the murky talipapa, an aging mother with two front teeth missing, her gray locks unkempt,  swooned, “Panalo tayo!, Panalo tayo!”, yes, we won, we won, her overjoyed morning eyes averted to the sky. Her prayers had been heard, although all she had to clutch in a small plastic bag were one lonely anemic fish, a tomato, camote shoots, her family’s  main fare for the day. She could not help but feel fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao, himself refreshed and resuscitated, would skip the usual route back to his grand California quarters to catch the first flight out of Las Vegas, then head straight home to be able to attend Tuesday session in Manila. He would be absent from the Monday session, his first red mark in a busy choking stint as neophyte member of the Philippine Senate.

Although slower, visibly deficient in defense, he managed to score a very thrilling win, highlighted by a crunchy second round decking of the noisy Mexican champion Jessie Vargas.

Nobody could blame Pacquiao now for openly looking forward to a rematch with the retired Floyd Mayweather Jr., who gave the Filipino boxing superhero a severe one-sided thrashing in 2014, that dented the otherwise shining Pacquiao legend. Mayweather, in fact, had nodded from ringside (“Good enough”) to give Pacquiao and his performance a passing grade.

They would forward all sorts of shallow excuses behind his unscheduled comeback from a brief retirement. Sorry, but it’s harder to deny that, after all, the purpose for the sudden return was to avoid being remembered as the great boxer who got horribly shamed by Mayweather in the richest bout in the world.

They’re still trying to beat around the bush, although all signs and developments appear leading to an inexorable dream rematch between the two most colorful and exciting boxers in the world.

Yes, not only is the dream rematch well within reach [for Pacquiao] now.

All that remains is for Mayweather to unretire and say, in not so many words, “YES!”

Let’s get ready to rumble .

(CONDOLENCES: Our deepest sympathies to veteran national news correspondent Jun Velasco, whose beloved mother, Aurora Martinez Velasco, 89, passed away on Nov. 3. Her remains are at Funeraria Aurea Quiogue in Dagupan City. She’ll be interred tomorrow, 8 a.m., at Eternal Gardens Dagupan. Prayers, please.)