Can Manny Pacquiao save the world of Pinoy boxing?

And can Pacquiao, sometimes also known as "Pacman" according to ring barkers from Las Vegas to Lerma, strike fear into the hearts of his opponents, including one or two Mexicans he has knocked down to the canvass at least once, as well others in the rankings of the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, and International Boxing Federation featherweight lists?

A website devoted entirely to the best present-day Filipino boxer (www.mannypacquiao.com) answers these questions, and more –it posts a running open forum on anything that has to do with Manny and his fights, both recent and upcoming.

But everything it seems is on the drawing board, especially after the ruled draw in the General Santos native’s last bout with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, who holds the WBA and IBF featherweight belt. Everyone remembers how the fight, held in Las Vegas, Nevada not Quiapo, was deemed a harbinger of things to come in our little political corner of the world, fists flying on the eve of presidential elections. And just like our elections, it was ruled too close to call and so the decision was atay-balunbalunan.

After being knocked down thrice in the first round, Marquez rebounded gallantly and, to the Filipinos’ amazement, finished the fight and salvaged a draw.

Just as people were excited with Pacquiao’s bursting out of the gates and sending the Mexican champ sprawling on all fours, so too were they mesmerized by Marquez’s staying power to hang on to his title by, literally, the skin of his mouthpiece.

And yet it was atay-balunbalunan! Inboxes of emails, text messages, and other cyber communications were flooded with protests and howls of injustice done to our fighter, even as the fight itself (a split-decision draw) indeed pointed to a microcosm of our political exercise–no one loses, there are only those who get cheated.

An intruder in the Pacman website saw fit to play devil’s advocate and make light of Manny’s reasons why he simply couldn’t put away Marquez. Going by the obvious pseudonym Ben Tumbling, after the legendary fugitive of the 70s or is it 80s, the unwelcome guest in the Pacquiao website speculated on Manny’s possible excuses, not if but when he loses in the rematch with the Mexican.

We all know how Manny said, among others, that his mobility was affected by the blister on his toe that was caused by the bargain bin socks he bought in a dime store, and that he had sprained his fist in the initial mad flurry, including perhaps one punch that found its mark when Marquez was already reeling on the ropes. Tumbling does these alibis better: He predicts that Manny will blame dandruff on his scalp which he couldn’t scratch with his gloved mitt, and itchy underwear bought in the same bargain bin, among other wild and ridiculous excuses, after his forthcoming loss to Marquez in the rematch.

Needless to say, the intruder’s comments drew howls of protest and a storm of general indignation from Pacquiao fans the cyber world over, sending the advocate Ben tumbling back into the void from whence he came. Ben Tumbong!, the fans cried. Etong sa ’yo!, they said, complete with fistorama graphics.

Even as poor Ben was made to shut up, no one could deny his freedom of speech if not expression. The tumbling man’s remarks might even inspire Manny, in a tangential sort of way, to foreswear any possible alibis in his future fights, and treat each one as if there were no tomorrow.

With the knee jerk reactions and flurry of emotions triggered by anything related to Manny, there is little doubt then that much is riding on Pacquiao. In him the Filipino is able to salvage some pride, particularly when he beat the people’s champ, Marco Antonio Barrera also of Mexico, before the fight with Marquez.

Indeed the hosannas were many and maybe even a trifle extreme when Pacquiao decked Barrera by TKO in the 11th (1 seems to be Pacman’s lucky number), that even as no title was at stake, Pacquiao handily won the athlete of the year award last year, though he had to share it with bowler CJ Suarez, who won the World Cup in Honduras, the first Filipino to do so since Paeng Nepomuceno.

It was the second time for Manny to win the annual award handed out by the Philippine Sportswriters Association. The first time he won it some years ago, he was unable to leave his native Gensan to attend the ceremonies due to the proverbial bum stomach, underscoring his love-hate relationship with media.

Pacquiao’s beating Barrera, a veritable Mexican legend, made him (Manny) the uncrowned people’s champ and a veritable legend in his own right too, the humble small town Mindanao boy who made good and turned world beater.

Already Manny’s life has been the subject of television soaps, in the league of Palito, Janice Jurado, Yoyoy Villame, among others whose lives have been a roller coaster ride of tragi-comic twists and turns.

But television really can’t capture the dark and dank animal atmosphere of L&M gym on Pacquita Street in the tough backstreets of Sampaloc, where Manny honed his skills in the manly art and eventually made him an adopted son of Manila. What television can do is depict Elizabeth Oropesa as Manny’s mom, although it could have been a casting coup to tap one of the Sex Bomb dancers as his wife, Jinky.

Among the planned bouts for Manny are two rematches, against Barrera and against Marquez, admittedly both potential blockbusters. The Barrera fight, however, might be pointless, as there is no formal title at stake other than that vague appendage, "people’s champ." Marquez, the reigning WBA and IBF champ, might have second thoughts about a rematch with Manny, as this time not even the skin of his (Marquez’s) mouthpiece may save him.

There’s another fight on the drawing boards, although a long shot, this one against the WBC champ from South Korea, but as usual grubby politics is in the way as Manny has lately been fighting in the WBA side of the tracks. If he had disposed of Marquez, then a fight with the WBC titleholder would have made more sense as it would be a unification bout. Right now, it seems the Pacman camp is on a fishing expedition, and so content themselves with being the undisputed people’s champ, and Pacquiao the best boxer without a belt.

We can only hope that on the way to his next title Manny doesn’t get lost and end up the tragedy that became Lando Navarette or the comedy that cornered Onyok Velasco, or the bathos that turned the career of Louie Espinosa inside out.

We remember seeing Pacquiao live some two years ago, during an exhibition match against a visiting Kazakh at the Quirino Grandstand at Luneta. The atmosphere was electric and the bout action-packed, and Manny, true-to-form, treated the capacity crowd to a humdinger of a fight, knocking the Kazakh down and himself getting decked before finishing off his opponent within the distance.

Everyone went home happy, the cars bumper to bumper making a beeline for Roxas Boulevard, most of the other fans walking home and talking excitedly about the fight, intermittently shadow boxing the night air and believing that the hope of the fatherland was born yet again in the former Bagumbayan, near the seawall.