(Photo credit: Esther Lin) Despite the emergence of a Gennady Golovkin, what’s something special about the famous boxing “duo” which we can’t find in other boxers of this generation, so much so that the sport would seem to dim and weaken if they retire?
What is in Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao that keeps the sport “buzzing and oozing” notwithstanding the former’s disdained, manipulated “unbeaten” record and the latter’s recent heart-breaking “defeats”?
How can we move from their tricks and shadows? What sets them apart from Castor and Pollux of the Greek Mythology? Can any other champion or champions measure up to the athletic personae of Pacquiao and Mayweather which are able to create hype and public interest at the mention of their names, even when they’re not in the limelight?
Who won’t be dumbfounded at such phenomenon? Without an issue about him which could cause a stir, why Pacquiao became number one at the top ten most hunted terms in Yahoo search engine just a few weeks ago? Could it be that the fans worldwide have been badly missing the Pacman, eager to see him back in action? Can anyone deny the fact that the world is too small for Pacquiao to go unnoticed, except of course in the House of Representatives where he “performs” as a leading absentee member?
Why do people have “soft spot” for Pacquiao? And why does Mayweather love to be lambasted and enjoy becoming a standing joke especially when he takes Pacquiao as his apple of discord? Why does Floyd believe that transforming into a “bad boy” is his only option to gain big numbers in pay-per-view since his fight with Oscar Dela Hoya and which fight was a big hit in 2007 due mainly to Dela Hoya’s immense popularity at that time?
When will it dawn on Mayweather that he actually treats boxing not as a sport but as a “cash cow” slot machine in primitive land? Why is he lauded to be a boxing “genius” and seen to be more “astute” than Top Rank’s Bob Arum in the rackets of “boxing today” when “genius” Arum has more tools in his pocket than Don King to buy clones? With cobras in cobwebs hissing and sneaking around, what else figure of speech do “Tarzans” and “Cheetahs” need to get a clear picture of the sport these days?
What spell does Mayweather possess such that he succeeds peddling fights with boxers not in his level by cherry-picking them one after another, and while belittling and ducking his arch nemesis that the world has long been clamoring him to fight?
What causes Mayweather to be convinced that people have to hate him to watch his exhibition drills and which drills only crooks would call “competitive matchups”? Hence have we any reason to take his loud mouth seriously when it blurted out the other day, “Pacquiao’s a has been, his career is over”? If not Mayweather, who will do it better in light of the Mayweahter-Alvarez when Mayweather needs Pacquiao to sell the fight?
But who can’t discern that behind every Mayweather outside-of-the-ring jab at Pacquiao are dread, insecurity, envy and craftiness?
Mayweather claims to have beaten or bitten all his foes, but when will he beat the enormity of his pride and folly together with NBA’s “high priest” Lebron James, aspiring to be above Erik Spoalstra, if not David Stern, for people to consider him a true and worthy champion? What tragic fall is Mayweather waiting to happen to realize he belongs to earth and that Star Trek is merely fiction?
When will he be a Tim Teebow or a Maria Sharapova who shines and inspires both in conquest and upset loss? How else can Mayweather be beautiful like Sharapova if not by the way of grace even though he’s a man?
If Pacquiao and Mayweather would have impressive wins in their forthcoming bouts midst the “jolting” of crisp punches coming from their powerhouse opponents Brandon Rios and Canelo Alvarez respectively, what nostrum or niacin could make them endure each other’s blaze inside the ring when they finally meet face-to-face? What brave new technique will they have to employ to beat each other up in a “never-seen-before” grueling fight should the “2014 THRILLA IN MANILA” between the two of them come to pass?
But with all the egos in play among toddlers in the sport, who will take the first step and initiate the negotiation anew to finally make the bout happen, the potentially richest and most exciting boxing event ever?
Pacquiao has agreed to a Mayweather random drug test, but will Mayweather proffer a fresh excuse to proceed drifting away from the main “Mayweather” issue that is “Pacquiao”? Floyd asserts that he’s not afraid of Pacman, notably in the advent of Pacquiao’s recent successive “losses,” but will Pacquiao bow again to a “master” atop his throne to find it impossible to agree to a lesser purse under present circumstances and to the other Mayweather conditions, if conditions are reasonable to be probable?
How will Mayweather beat Pacquiao or how will he be beaten by Pacquiao when he tags, gags and brags that Pacquiao is not in his “level” and was just a media creation? In what way can Pacquiao vindicate himself from Mayweather’s baseless accusations when “Manny Knows” is his favorite shirt to wear during training? But what’s wrong with the “Manny Knows” shirt? And why does it keep many guessing about the possible other shirt in his closet that may bear prints to tell a secret?
Will Pacquiao’s loss to Mayweather validate the latter’s steroid indictment? But what if Pacquiao routs Rios under the same type of Mayweather routine drug test? Will the fans be satisfied to conclusively ascribe honor to Mayweather when he beats the “old” Pacquiao? Or will Mayweather have to prove his merit further by beating the young, prime and dangerous Pacquiao in Golovkin?
Answers are at their finest, often hidden in questions sans the complexities of human “intelligence” futile to rebut reality’s rejoinders. Boxing is a lot like life in general wherein asking a right question is better than any right answer to all the wrong questions asked, and unspoken.
Dare not answer, therefore, the questions above because they are themselves answer to those who “ask, seek and knock.” Or your answers will lead to confusing questions that only a hopelessly confused person will ask.
But don’t shun or ignore the United Nations. And stop asking others with the same mindset as you have since they might push you deeper into the hole. Heed reason or walk on water. Whatever your size and situation, be big in heart and mind. Then be measured by it accordingly, or consequently.
Ask yourself? Or go to the One whose ways and thoughts are higher than yours?
Who knows?
renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com