Twin warnings for Manny Pacquiao

MANNY Pacquiao should take the latest statement of his physical conditioning coach as fair warning. Not against anybody, not against anything—but strictly against himself!

Alex Ariza has made it clear he was not impressed with Pacquiao’s last two fights, against faded Shane Mosley and perennial nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez.

Well, if Pacquiao had, say, been happy enough with his big bore of a bout with Mosley, there’s no way the national boxing superhero should be proud of his pedestrian performance against Marquez.

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The tempestuous, magical Pacquiao was nowhere inside the ring in Las Vegas last November.

The Pacquiao that got manhandled by Marquez was both tame and predictable.

If the old magical Pacquiao had really been there, Marquez would’ve not cried “robbery.”

If it was the original stormy Pacman who had waged war against Marquez, the hugely contested points win would have never occurred.

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They can’t afford a bad camp, swore Ariza, in the process bringing out in the open that, despite brags to the contrary, the training Pacquiao did against Marquez was anything but ideal.

Who was to blame?

Quite a number, but Ariza said he hopes Pacquiao’s extra-curricular commitments don’t come in the way again.

In short, it’s all up to Pacquiao to manage his time; it’s all up to him to regain total focus.

Pacquiao, in short, can’t afford to lose to himself again.

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That’s warning No. 1.

If the Ariza sermon sounded every word significant and valid, you’re free to debunk this next one as mere mumbo-jumbo.

Listen please.

If you bothered to count back, it would show that Pacquiao’s forthcoming fight against Bradley will be his 16th bout since last losing to Erik Morales.

Sorry, but there’s something ominous about that number.

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Chronicler Marv Dumon of the International Boxing Examiner has noted that, since Pacquiao’s first pro loss to “Rustico Torrecampo in 1996, he has lost every 16th bout thereafter.”

For the record, Dumon continued, Pacquiao was stopped by Medgoen (3-K Battery) Singsurat in September 1999 to lose the WBC flyweight crown.

That defeat coincided with Pacquiao’s 16th fight since first losing to Torrecampo.

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Pacquiao moved up in weight and went on to win the IBF super bantamweight crown.

He had a string of sensational fights, including the first bout with Marquez which was declared a draw in May 2002.

In March 2005, Pacquiao would lose a bloody bout against Eric Morales, which also happened to be Pacman’s 16th fight since losing his flyweight crown in Thailand in 1999.

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Going straight to the point, Dumon repeated that Pacquiao’s June meeting with Bradley will be his 16th bout since that sensational losing stand against Morales in 2005.

Dumon naturally smells a bad omen in the No. 16.

“Don’t send me the congratulatory e-mail,” he said. “I accidentally stumbled upon this insight through a blog post.”

Dumon, with an MPA degree from the University of Texas at Austin, writes on a range of subjects, social media, sports, gambling, business and politics.

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(GOODBYE ALING ORIANG: Gloria Licad Lanot, favorite dinner host of National Artists Nick Joaquin and Andrea O. Veneracion, beloved aunt of the celebrated concert pianist Cecille Licad and mother-in-law of poet Pete Lacaba (married to Marra Lanot), has passed on. She was 94. She lies in state at the St. Peter Memorial Chapel on Quezon Ave., Quezon City and will be interred tomorrow, Friday, at the Loyola Memorial Park, Marikina. It will never be the same again. Prayers please for her eternal peace in the Valley of the Lord.)