Rep. Pacquiao cannot afford to lose

I will repeat what I have written previously, that the fight against Antonio Margarito is one that Manny Pacquiao simply cannot afford to lose. There are just so many things at stake in this fight, some of them outside the ring and even beyond boxing itself.

For one, Manny will become the first fighter in the history of boxing who will be introduced on fight night, among other things, as a duly-elected member of the Philippine House of Representatives.

As such, it is a distinction that will not only weigh heavily on the shoulders of Manny alone, but of all Filipinos as well, regardless of whether they are lovers of the sport of boxing or have followed his remarkable career.

Manny will now be representing the Philippines in a way he has never had as a boxer, no matter how successful he has been in representing the country in that sport. This time he is an official of the Republic of the Philippines.

If he gets beaten to a pulp in the ring, at least as a boxer it sort of comes with the territory. At the back of any boxer or boxing fan's mind, such a tragic outcome looms large as a distinct possibility.

But to get beaten to a pulp, or even just get beaten, as a distinguished member of the Congress of our country is an eventuality that, perhaps because of its uniqueness, no Filipino has ever prepared himself for.

Of course, all things being equal, it is just as possible that it will be Manny who will be beating Margarito to a pulp, in which case the uniqueness of his being a congressman at the same time will make that sort of win the topic of discussion anywhere for a very long time.

Even if Manny is not a congressman, his feat of having won seven world titles in seven different weight divisions is already something very difficult to duplicate. If he wins this one, his eighth, it will probably be a record that will stay for all time.

Now, imagine if Manny does it as a congressman. That will truly be something for the books. But in order to do that, he has to win. Whatever kind of win it will be will not matter. What matters is a win, because a loss will be so much more than just an ordinary defeat.

Maybe I am just being overly anxious about the outcome of the fight, as I have always been with every fight of Manny. You see, I have never been truly comfortable with his fighting style. As how even Bob Arum once described it, Manny fights in a strange way.

There is no question about his power. Pacquiao probably has one of the most devastating punches in boxing today. He packs the kick of a mule in either hand and there is no better proof of that than the string of spectacular knockouts he has racked up.

But I fully agree with Arum. Manny does fight in a strange, darting and off-balanced way. On the other hand, maybe it is this strangeness, this unconventionality, that confounds his foes and makes them vulnerable to his killer punches. This and the speed with which he throws them.

Whatever. No amount of rationalization will ever make me breathe easier each time I watch Manny fight. This is a scare I never experience when I watch other fights. And I have seen my share of fights going all the way back to the early years of local boxing at the Cebu Coliseum.

Francisco Balug, Tony Jumao-as, Arthur Fuego, Jesse Necessario, Carl and Ric Penalosa (names unknown to most of todays sportswriters), even Gabriel Flash Elorde when he fought Rene Barrientos and Puntainoorasing Isarasak, never gave me the anxiety as does a Manny fight.

If I were to hazard a guess, maybe it is the great importance the national consciousness has come to attach to each Manny fight. Each Manny fight has assumed some redemptive value to the Filipino. Distrusted, underestimated, it is our way of striking back. It is our fight as well.