Thanks Manny Pacquiao for a hassle-free Sunday morning

Boxing is too brutal a spectator sport for me but I’m thankful for the Pacquiao-Marquez fight yesterday.

No, I didn’t watch the third encounter of our very own Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. But I enjoyed the free-flowing traffic because almost everybody was glued to television starting early morning. I left Las Piñas 7: 30 a.m. for an 8:30 a.m. breakfast meeting with friends at Italianni’s at Greenbelt 2.

I took the bus and made it to Makati in less than an hour!

There was a little problem though because Italianni’s was reserved for those who wanted to watch the fight so we transferred to Mary Grace, where we had a delightful breakfast of bangus and Vigan langgonisa concluded by hot chocolate and ensaimada.

I passed by Mercury Drug Store for my medicines on my way home and there were only two customers.

I would not have such an enjoyable morning if not for Pacquiao.Can’t we have a Pacquiao fight every day?

Facebook was full of commentaries about the Pacquiao-Marquez fight with many of the instant analysts saying that Pacquiao ‘s victory this time was not convincing.

Sportswriter Michael Martinez captured in his Fox News story the atmosphere at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas:

“ Manny Pacquiao lifted his arms in triumph Saturday night, but any joy he might have felt was tempered by an unusual sound inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“Boos. Lots of them. For him.

“Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez engaged in a scintillating 12-round fight, but the result left a sellout crowd of 16,368 less than satisfied.

“Why? Because even though Pacquiao won a majority decision from the three judges, the feeling throughout the arena was that Marquez should have won.”

The New York Times’ Greg Bishop said it was Marquez who controlled the fight. “ Pacquiao did not look like a 9 to 1 favorite, but perhaps Marquez had been undersold, underestimated, all along,” he said.

Days before the, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach predicted Manny would finish Marquez in six rounds, “four or even earlier,” Bishop said.

Veteran boxing analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz said in an ABS-CBN interview said Marquez had no chance with Pacquiao. “How can you pick Marquez who is going up in weight, who is aging, who is slower, who gets hit much more today than in the past?”

So overconfident were members of Team Pacquiao that Bishop said they “had wagered large sums on an early knockout, at 18 to 1 odds.”

Their over expectation was buoyed by the visit of Marquez’s longtime trainer, Nacho Beristain, to have Pacquiao’s autograph on souvenir boxing gloves.

Was it a ploy by Beristain to make Pacquiao overconfident?”

After Pacquiao was declared a winner, Beristain, called the result of the fight “a joke.”

Amid the controversy, Pacquiao’s ,”I clearly won the fight” statement sounded desperate.

(In a dig to the false report about Oprah rooting for Shamcey Supsup instead of the 2011 Miss Universe Leila Lopes of Angola, there’s a joke going around the social media: “ Oprah Winfrey says Pacquiao clearly won.”)
What now?

Reports said Marquez was so disappointed, he is thinking of retirement. “”I need to sit down with my family and my camp and make a decision about whether to continue in this sport,” he said.

While there were some who said that yesterday’s fight should tell Pacquiao to retire from boxing and concentrate on his work as a congressman, the Champ wants to go on. “I can fight any fighters as long as there’s no problem with my promoter. It depends on Bob Arum,” he said.

Arum, this early, is talking of a fourth Pacquiao-Marquez encounter: “I am bound and determined to find a definitive winner once and for all. If I can get both fighters to agree, I’d like to do a fourth fight once and for all,” he said.

Fox New’s Martinez talks of a “a payday of $10 million or more” to change Marquez’ mind.
More probably for Manny, the Champ.

I look forward to another hassle-free Sunday when Pacquiao meets Marquez, Part IV.