Typhoon Pacman

We inhabit a country where tropical storms constantly rearranges the landscape. It’s such a natural and regular occurrence that sometimes we take the phenomenon for granted, often resulting in calamitous situations.

Last Sunday’s hyped “Firepower” was an example of a human phenom wreaking havoc on the opposition. Like typhoons that regularly make housecalls in our land, PacMan’s punches rained in torrents on the hapless Miguel Cotto with devastating results.

Typhoon PacMan unleashed 780 furious punches where 336 found its mark. Cotto threw 597 punches and connected with 172. Cotto had 300 power punches and 93 connected. Compare this to PacMan’s 560 power shots with 276 connections.

Both fighters showed true sportsmanship after the fight. PacMan, as always, was humble in victory. Cotto was gracious in acknowledging defeat. There were no excuses made, admitting that Manny’s hand speed was amazing and that it surprised him with big combinations. The only bad thing atop the ring after the fight ended was when those political figures hovered around, eager to grab attention, to the point of pushing someone aside just to have their despicable selves be seen in full and living color.

PacMan also noted Cotto’s good points, saying he’s a respectful person. He got several head-snapping uppercuts and hard body shots which he admitted, hurt him. Of course, win or lose, you always get hurt in boxing.

When a world title is at stake, PacMan has a 12-win (11 by knockouts), 1-loss, 2-draw record since 1998. The last time he lost in a world title fight was in 1999 against Thailand’s Medgoen “3-K Battery” Singsurat when he was stopped on the 3rd round.

2005 was the last time Manny lost a fight, and that was against Erik Morales. The fights, personally, versus Morales were the best. But this fight was not for a world title but for the WBC International belt. Since that 2005 loss, PacMan has won 11 straight fights, 8 by knockouts.

PacMan has a career total fight of 55 (50-3-2). Except for Muhammad Ali who had a career 61-fight total, Manny has endured more grueling and face-altering matches than many of his contemporaries. Oscar dela Hoya, whose career PacMan promptly ended, had 45 fights. Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. each had 40 fights. FM,Jr. was undefeated in those 40 matches.

Starting as a light flyweight, PacMan has now fought at 9 different weight divisions and has eclipsed dela Hoya’s 6 different titles.

Fighting as a welterweight for only the second time in his career, he now has in his collection the WBC Flyweight belt, the IBF Super Bantamweight belt, the Ring Magazine Featherweight belt, WBC and Ring Magazine Super Featherweight belt, the WBC Lightweight belt, Ring Magazine and IBO Junior Welterweight belt, Cotto’s WBO Welterweight belt and the first-ever made honorary WBC Diamond belt.

For PacMan, winning is an understatement. He annihilated and brutalized supposedly bigger and stronger elite fighters. Next on the list is Mayweather, Jr. and if this fight materializes, this could be the most profitable in terms of prize money. It would overtake the combined total of $77 million earned by Floyd Jr. and dela Hoya from pay-per-view subscriptions during their match in 2007.

By the way, let us not forget Z “The Dream” Gorres. His promising boxing career is definitely over and its a waste to see such talent’s untimely retirement. Z fights for flag and country too, so let us unite as one nation and pray for his speedy recovery. Let’s give Z the same support that we give to PacMan when he fights. Z is fighting a different fight, this time fighting for life. He needs our prayers.

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Congratulations to Liloan’s men and women’s volleyball team for winning the cluster eliminations of the 2009 Gov. Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball Cup held at Compostela last Saturday. To the players and coaches Cris Mosqueda and Paul Delgado, outstanding job. Let’s go for the gold.

And speaking of Liloan, the town again plays host to 44 municipalities and 4 component cities when this year’s edition of the Cebu Provincial Sports, Academic and Cultural Festival opens on Sunday, November 22. People have been very busy lately with the aim of giving the province a November affair to remember. I suppose Jun Mangubat and his staff at Jollibee Liloan are also cramming for this event.

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