Some people might think that Manny Pacquiao has done enough, that he should rest on his laurels and be content with last year’s win via technical knockout against Miguel Cotto and this year’s successful bout against former IBF Welterweight World Champion Joshua Clottey.
Most boxing fans say (the botched bout against five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. notwithstanding) that that should be enough for any fighter of his status to retire from the industry. Boxing is a difficult sport, many will agree, and with Manny’s winnings, his accomplishments and successes, he should rest easy, knowing he has already given so much for his family and the country.
Once a Fighter…
But Manny Pacquiao is a hardworking Filipino who knows how to wear pain with pride, and who knows that one shouldn’t just remain idle. Boxing may be the most difficult (not to mention, the most painful) sport in the world, but it is exactly the challenges of this sport that Manny loves about boxing. Pain is just another way of reminding him of his successes and triumphs. Without it, what would a boxer be?
Pacman isn’t one to sit back and rest on his laurels (and his seven world titles), either. He is a fighter; boxing is his passion. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, eight months to the day after his victory against Clottey, the 31-year-old boxer has decided to enter the ring once more, to take on former World Boxing Association Welterweight Champion, Mexican Antonio Margarito, for the vacant WBC Super Welterweight Championship on November 13, 2010, at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Manny Pacquiao’s “never say die” attitude actually harks back to a very hard past. Although it would only be until he turned 14 years old that Pacquiao would start a career as a boxer, his fight for life and survival began much earlier.
Pain for Pain, Pound for Pound
Born Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, the fourth among six siblings, Pacquiao lived a hard life in the rural areas of southern Philippines. Abandoned by his father, poverty prevented him from completing education beyond grade school. At 14, Pacquiao decided to leave home to ease the burdens of his mother, who had to take out a variety of small jobs just to feed six children.
Pacquiao’s passion for boxing surfaced when he arrived in Manila, when he would take part in not-so-legal boxing matches in the streets. He didn’t have the training back then, so it’s safe to say that the young boxer had to endure, the pain of being pummeled by his opponents and the fatigue that is unavoidable for a beginner. From there, Pacquiao would spend years, fighting it out and showing his strength and courage in the ring. It was only until 2001, by some strange twist of fate, that Pacquiao found himself in Las Vegas, winning the IBF super bantamweight title by technical knockout. It was also in Las Vegas where he met Freddie Roach…and the rest, as they say, is history.
On November 13, Pacquiao will face Antonio Margarito, described as a rangy puncher and passionate brawler. At 5’11 and with a 73-inch reach, Margarito clearly has a huge size advantage over the 5’6” Pacquiao. Because of this, training has been rigorous for the Philippines’ pride. It is reported that Pacquiao wakes up at 6am to run, sprint, do core exercises, ballistic training…the list goes on. It’s enough to make others want to give up out of sheer exhaustion. But the pound-for-pound fighter knows that this is what it takes to be primed up for the ring. To toughen up, Pacquiao knows that he has to go through the toughest and most rigorous routines before the fight.
All things considered, Pacquiao is sure to be more than ready for the fight against Margarito, and ready to show Filipinos all over the world that pain, more than just a physical sensory experience, should be carried with pride and worn with honor, determination and spirit. Come November 13, 2010, we’re sure that this will be a fight that will be worth watching.
