CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – In interviews, Manny Pacquiao always tells reporters that all his fights are dedicated to his fans — to make them happy.
But in his last fight with Ghanaian Joshua Clottey, it seems that the pound-for-pound world champion has lost his magic.
By making short shrift of his opponents in the past, Manny has spoiled his fans. Fans, including this columnist and Manny’s General Santos town mate, Bueno Silva, a Chicago-based international artist, felt that Pacman should have disposed of Clottey early – under five rounds.
Every time, the GenSan-Sarangani boxer has a date with a boxer in the ring, he had turned the event into some sort of reunion for Filipino families and friends around the world. They are always looking forward to an evening, and in the case of Filipinos in their homeland, a day of non-stop, high-octane excitement.
The seven-division world champion had just added his every boxing event to the calendar like Christmas and New Year as holidays for reunion for Filipinos everywhere. And in some cases, even non-Filipinos.
A few hours before Pacquiao’s main event started, I was able to talk on the phone with my nephew (Tonette Rey) in Ireland and my niece (Menchie R. Malto) in the Philippines. It’s that time that you know, when you call someone, you are not going to be asked to leave a message. You are sure to talk to someone you long to talk to because he is very likely glued in front of his TV set.
In fact, I was watching the bout in my other niece’s (Dorothy Joy’s) home, whose husband from Puerto Rico, Polo Estrada, a big Manny Pacquiao fan, had also invited over other friends, who are also Pacquiao fanatics, to watch the event in his home.
MOST BORING FIGHT
But everybody, who watched with me, agreed that it was one of the most boring Pacquiao fights. Some even growled that Pacquiao has now lost his touch.
My friend, Ronnie M. Estrada, in San Jose, California told me that he wanted his money back. He said he and his friends pitched in $20 each to watch the fight in HD (high definition). He said they watched a horrible and a very unexciting bout as Clottey let Manny pummel him all night.
He smelled something fishy, as in “fixed” game, like my two other friends, Jesse Jose, a columnist out of Seattle, Washington and Marlon L. Pecson, my fellow Chicagoan. They all chorused, “harang” (fraud). Another email pal, who likes to be known only by one name, Dido, called it the “worst fight.”
I don’t blame them because, I, too, was disappointed at the turnout of event. I even enjoyed watching the undercard between Humberto Soto and David Diaz. Unfortunately, Diaz, a friend, lost by unanimous decision.
I explained to Jesse and other email friends that the referee was partly to blame for the Pacquiao-Clottey fiasco. The referee should have enforced the “mercy rule,” by stopping the fight in the late rounds when Manny was overwhelming ahead on points. After all, Clottey seems to be there only to take but not to give punches.
In amateur boxing, as in Olympics, the referee has the authority to stop the fight in what is called “RSC” (referee stopped contest) for an “outclassed opponent” (RSCO) or “outscored opponent” (RSCOS).
The rules under the combative sport of Texas, where Manny and Clottey fought, do not provide any violation for Clottey “for not honestly competing.”
But under the Nevada Boxing Commission, where Manny had fought in most of his fights, it has a provision that “if the referee decides that an unarmed combatant is not honestly competing, he may stop the contest or exhibition before its scheduled completion, disqualify the unarmed combatant and recommend the purse of the unarmed combatant be held pending investigation by the Commission.”
REFEREE COULD STOP FIGHT IN NEVADA
In a phone interview by this columnist with Keith Kizer, executive director of the NBC, Kizer said Clottey might not have violated the non-competing provision if the bout were held in Nevada. But he said the referee in Nevada has discretion to stop the fight if a boxer is not throwing punches.
He recalled former WBO British world champion Henry Akinwande was disqualified by referee Mills Lane during a bout at Caesars Tahoe in Nevada in 1997 in the fifth round for repeated holding against fellow British three-time former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis.
Akinwande was seen in video footage of the fight for excessive clinching despite Lane’s repeated warnings.
Clottey should feel very lucky, he fought Manny in Texas!
Or did he rub Manny the wrong way? Fans were so disappointed. Only very few nibbled the asking price of $5,000 to $20,000 a pop wangled by one of Manny’s close associates allegedly identified as Michael Koncz from each “sponsor” just to join Manny’s post-fight party by the Cowboys Stadium. Or a $75 a pop for a ticket being peddled allegedly by one Alan Pena to each fan who also wanted to join the same post-fight party. I wonder if this fund-raising event has permit from Uncle Sam (the Internal Revenue Service). Koncz had reportedly discriminated against minority media by not extending them media credentials to cover the fight.
But I have seen this pattern before. Manny’s associates collected $20 each for a “meet-and-greet” and $50 each to attend a concert in Chicago area in 2008 even as Manny was a no-show.
No wonder the concert celebration of Manny in Hawaii was scrapped.