Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

A preview on the Mano-a-Mano fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar Larios at the historic Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines, Sunday, July 2, 2006.

You are Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao. The Destroyer. You are on the top of the world. And with good reason.

Since the day you turned pro, you’ve gone up a whopping seven weight classes, and dominated.

In a career-defining victory, you brought Mexican legend and one of the all time greatest boxers, Marco Antonio Barrera, to his knees. At his prime.

You came back for more, laying the smack down on Juan Miguel Marquez in the early rounds in your controversial fight that ended in a draw. You lost to the other third of the dreaded Mexican triumvirate, Eric Morales, but came back with a vengeance last January, stopping him in ten rounds. You are the first fighter to do that.

In a weight class owned by Latino fighters, you have left your own indelible mark, ensuring that your legacy won’t be a mere footnote.

You are among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Only Floyd Mayweather Jr. is arguably better, and he’s over 20 pounds heavier.

You are an inspiration to millions of your countrymen. Your words carry more weight than the President. The women want you. The men want to be like you. You are Michael Jordan part deux.

You are Manny Pacquiao. And you just might be getting too cocky.

Too many distractions

From a comical attempt at a singing career, to an embarassing “autobiogrphical” movie, to cockfighting, Paquiao may just have fallen to the Oscar dela Hoya curse of trying to do too many things at the same time, spreading himself thin. Add to that the pressure of in-fighting in his camp and what would have been minor things my prove to be too distracting. And it’s showing, sparring poorly with Rustam Nugaev.

It’s axiomtic in basketball: let your main thing be your main thing, or things won’t work out. Case in point the Detroit Pistons. Their main thing was defense, but under Flip Saunders they became a motion-offense running team, and failed to go back to the Finals. It’s the same in boxing. Winky Wright is so good because he never forgets what his main things are: jabs and defense. Pacquiao, in trying to live up to the Everyman image he’s been forced to assume, may just be letting go of his main thing, and it might just be the kind of opening Larios needs to win.

Being a former champion himself, Larios is not someone you want to fight when there are other things in your mind. He has, on several occasions, given Morales all his fellow Mexican could handle.

Paquiao is still the better fighter, with superior handspeed, technique and power. Both are as tough as nails, but Larios has the better training mentality: by all accounts the guy never stops. Larios is a teriffic in-fighter, easily able to throw a thousand punches in the course of a match, but often the shots go wild and don’t pack much strength. Is Manny ripe for an upset? Or is he going to open up a can of whoop-ass on Larios?

I’d like to predict, but I don’t have a clear picture on this one. If - and it’s a very big if mind you - the rumors about Manny’s drinking and management issues are false, he should be able to take Larios down easily. If not, Larios is tenacious enough to know how to exploit an opening when he sees one.