Breaking Up with Pacquiao: Its not you, Its me
Los Angeles (July 11, 2018)- Breaking up is hard to do. In my lifetime I’ve had to do it more times than I’d have liked to, you’ve had to do it too.
Our favorite fighters eventually come to the end of what are remembered as magical times and moments captured in history as amazing feats of the human mind and body. The emotional connection built between fighters and fans unknowingly becomes a faithful obsession of loyalty until the bitter end.
I was, and am a fan of Oscar De La Hoya’s boxing career. From the moment he dedicated winning his gold medal to his mother whom passed away from breast cancer, while my mom cried her eyes out in front of the TV. To the final moment, when he came out his corner smiling in agonizing defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao.
I was 14 years old when De La Hoya won that gold medal in 1992 and I felt the ire of my uncles when I rooted for De La Hoya as he ended the career of their favorite fighter Julio Cesar Chavez.
Time catches us all, especially those who punch for money. The glory of battle ends before the wars, and fighters retire.
Manny Pacquiao is not retired, but he’s not the same fighter he once was.
July 14th (the 15th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Pacquiao faces Lucas Matthysse in a battle of the near retired. Matthysse was also once one of the most exciting figures in the sport, who never quite reached the expectations of the rabidly obsessed.
Both fighters have seen better days and a good bout between declining warriors is expected but, should they even be fighting given the obvious decline in performance.
Yes, they should and can.
Unfortunately, they risk the unthinkable of tragedy in the ring during the process, but its their right. What happens after for the winner?
Probably another fight, then another. Until a likely brutal beating at the hands of a young elite level fighter to sound the obvious end.
Pacquiao: the senator, actor, singer, mega star of the Philippines continues on because, well he probably needs the money. Its no secret that he has become a government welfare program in his self, building housing and hospitals in his home province. Taking care of his massive entourage is its own job, there is no of shortage of hands held out for the man who is bigger than the president of his own country. Manny Pacquiao is his own small economy in the Philippines.
An economy that owes taxes.
Once one of the most popular and best-selling fighters in the world, Manny Pacquiao’s fight will air on the ESPN+ app. Like David Ruffin of the Temptations, Pacquiao has been forced into a reduce role after a major decline to claim he’s “still got the pipes”.
Fighting in front of an estimated 100,000 die-hard U.S. fans streaming Pacquiao-loyalty on their smartphones and devices, the hero from the Sarangani province continues his decline.
Relationships end for good reasons.
I just don’t want to see a good man get hurt.
But its not you Manny, its me.
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