By Alex P. Vidal
“Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.”—George Foreman
MANNY Pacquiao’s presence in the ringside when Gervonta “Tank” Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) destroyed potential Pacquiao comeback fight foe Ryan “King Ry” Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) on April 22 in Las Vegas had two purposes: 1. He wanted to continue attracting the attention of ring impresarios who might be interested to book him after he announced a comeback bid this year; and 2. He wanted to assess the ability of the lanky 24-year-old Garcia, his rumored future foe.
Forget Davis. No promoter in his right mind will accommodate the crazy idea of pitting boxing’s senior citizen from Saranggani, Mindanao against today’ hottest boxing sensation from Baltimore, Maryland.
It’s Garcia who was near Pacquiao’s radar. Two years ago, then 21-year-old rising star Garcia, who was not even a full-fledged world lightweight champion, called out then WBA welterweight titleholder Pacquiao for a fight.
Garcia added more fuel to speculation about a possible fight against Pacquiao, announcing an apparent agreement with the legendary star.
“A dream turned reality,” Garcia wrote on Instagram. “It’s an honor to share the Ring with @mannypacquiao I will always respect what you did in and out the ring. Here’s to the best Man Winning.”
When he made the gigantic noise, Garcia, biting more than he can chew, was holding the interim WBC 135-pound belt.
Pacquiao, now 44, hasn’t fought in the lightweight division since blasting to smithereens undefeated David Diaz in 2008.
For sure if ever they clashed then, there would be a catchweight clause.
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The potential fisticuffs fizzled out when Pacquiao battled for the presidency of the Philippines in 2022 and failed, while Garcia, who just dismantled Duke Campbell after surviving a knowdown in Dallas, went on to register scintillating wins over Emmanuel Tagoe and Javier Fortuna before being blown away by the Tank last Saturday (Sunday in the Philippines).
With Garcia crashing out badly against Davis via 7th round KO, his dream match versus Pacquiao is now in tatters.
Pacquiao announced during Rizin’s New Year’s Eve card at Saitama Super Arena outside Tokyo that he has a deal in place with Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation to compete this year. Pacquiao made the announcement in the ring during Rizin’s New Year’s Eve card at Saitama.
There were no complete details about the nature of the fight but the defeated presidential candidate said he would face a Japanese fighter. Rizin puts on bouts primarily in MMA, but also kickboxing and boxing.
Pacquiao will most likely take part in an exhibition boxing match following the success of those types of bouts in Japan with Floyd Mayweather.
Floyd Mayweather, Davis’ No. 1 backer, has done two exhibition boxing matches with Rizin, in 2018 and in September. Pacquiao was also in the front row when Mayweather defeated Rizin MMA fighter and popular YouTuber Mikuru Asakura.
For his part, Pacquiao outplayed South Korean martial artist and influencer DK Yoo in an exhibition boxing match Dec. 11, 2022 in Goyang, South Korea.
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Long ago–more than 3,000 years–a band of Greek princes and heroes made a war on the city of Troy, in Asia Minor.
They laid siege to the city, but the Trojans were not easily beaten and the war went on for 10 years. It might not have ended even then had not Odysseus, the cleverest of the Greeks, devised a scheme to overthrow the city.
The Greeks pretended that they were giving up the siege and began making preparations to leave. One of the things that they did was to build a gigantic wooden horse. They left this on the shore, and then went on board their ships and sailed away.
When the Trojans saw the Greek warriors depart, there was great rejoicing. Believing the horse to be a luck offering to the gods, they opened their gates and hauled the horse inside as a prize of victory.
During the night, however, when the feasting was over and the Trojans were asleep, a door was opened in the side of the hollow wooden animal and out crept a band of Greeks who had been concealed inside. These men opened the gates of the city and let in the main army of the Greeks, who had sailed back again as soon as darkness had fallen.
Thus Troy was captured and destroyed.
Long ago the blind poet of ancient Greece, Homer, told about the Trojan horse in his Odyssey. Even today the name is applied to a person or persons who get inside enemy territory and help outside forces to get in and conquer it.
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TWO KINDS OF TRUTH. 1. Empirical, or factual truth: “There are more than 30 million Facebook users around the world.” This is true as a matter of fact. 2. Necessary truth: “5 + 5 = 10.” This is true and cannot be possibly false.
RELIGIONS. All the major religions have the same potential to help humanity. It’s not just Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism.
SMOKING makes us grow older. Early wrinkling occurs due to reduced levels of the oxygen needed to keep skin healthy. Smoking is the prime source of oxygen deprivation. If a smoker is in the process of quitting, he or she must drink lots of water.
A MODEL’S MEAL. How do models stay in shape? Cindy Crawford: “My breakfast is cereal with banana and skimmed milk. Pasta or salad is usually lunch; sushi, brown rice, and vegetables for dinner. Dairy products go right on my rear end, so I avoid them.”
REPUTATION. Of every 10 persons who talk about us, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way. Either we are only paranoid or we really have bad reputations.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
