Why Manny Will Win

Pride. Plain and simple.

Manny belongs to a race that is at the same time proud and forgetful. Filipinos do not tolerate losers. We’d say he used to be good and we’d move on to the next winner. We extolled Boom-boom Bautista and AJ “Bazooka” Banal when they were winning and labeled them as bums when they lost. Fair weather friends? Not exactly. We are a poor nation and we don’t have the patience to pine about the good ‘ol times. We want somebody who will make us feel good now, not yesterday.

The Filipino will be behind Manny all the way on this fight and that is something that gives him pause. They say that a champion’s fist is heavier than a challenger’s because in the champion’s fists lie the expectations of those who believe in him. Boxing champions have legions of boxing fans. Manny Pacquiao has legions of boxing fans AND an entire nation believing in him. If a boxing champion’s fist is heavier because of his fans, consider how heavy Manny’s fists will be come December 6. Each blow that lands on Oscar De La Hoya’s body will carry with it the hopes and prayers of an entire Filipino nation. The same Filipinos that Manny, with his pride, will never want to disappoint and he will go to hell and back if that’s what it takes to win.

Oscar can never truly say that he is fighting for the US or that he is fighting for Mexico. Oscar is fighting for Oscar and that’s the whole truth. When Manny says he is fighting for the Philippines, every Filipino’s heart swells with pride. Everytime Manny wins, we Filipinos walk on air even if it’s only for a day or two. We forget that in a day or two our supply of rice will have run out or that the baby will have no more milk to drink. These daily problems become trivial as we bask in a Pacman victory. This is the picture that Manny has in mind whenever he fights, this is the picture that Manny wants to paint, and this is the picture that Manny would willingly die for just to make real.

They say that this fight is a mismatch, that no matter how good Manny is, he will be pulverized by Oscar because Oscar is the bigger fighter, the heavier one, and has the longer reach. And that a good big fighter will always beat a good small fighter. What these boxing experts fail to realize is that in terms of motivation to win, Manny Pacquaio is a giant. Oscar is only playing for himself and for dollars and cents; Manny is playing for a few people’s expectations—80 million expectations if we have to count ‘em. How in the name of everything holy can you top that? How in the world can Oscar De La Hoya stop an entire nation?

But I agree with the boxing experts– this is a mismatch. Somebody should have told Oscar De La Hoya that he’d be better off fighting Margarito instead.