ON PACQUIAO AND LUCKY CHARMS

I AM BACK!!!

Last Sunday’s feat by MANNY PACQUIAO is a lot of firsts. Most notable of which is that he became the first and only boxer to win seven championships in seven weight divisions. The other firsts are the following: 1) the first time that MANNY’s father ROSALIO and his sisters watched a live PACQUIAO fight in the US, 2) the first time that the National Anthem was sung by three singers, 3) the first time that PACQUIAO fought a legitimate welterweight in the pound-for-pound caliber of COTTO, 4) the first time that a WBC Diamond Belt was awarded to the winner of the bout, 5) the first time that a huge chunk of the training was done in the Philippines.

We may even see another first a few months from now when PACQUIAO becomes the first Filipino world (boxing) champion to run for a higher position in public office while being a titleholder of a major crown.

There are other countless of firsts this time around and to my mind, these dispelled the talks that PACQUIAO had to follow a certain formula, sort of a lucky charm in order to win his bouts. There were times in the past when people would say that ALING DIONISIA should clear away from the venue of the bout and stay home and just pray her heart out. When she traveled to the US for the HATTON fight, people said that this would spell doom for him because it was a deviation from a proven formula- a lucky charm so to speak. In the COTTO fight, people have again seen the deviations when PACQUIAO had to bring in to the US his siblings and other relatives apart from the several other deviations from a supposed winning formula that were practiced in the past. This, we normally hear as his fights progressed and each time, he proved them wrong.

The COTTO fight, as I stated above had a lot of firsts to offer, total deviations from what people thought of as winning formulas. But a deviate that he is, PACQUIAO simply was too good to simply rely on this. To him, hardwork belies all forms of charms, beliefs and “pamahiin”. His feats have proven that charms or “pamahiins” are only for the faint of heart, the unbelievers who are too cowardly to take the risks and thereby leaving their fates to chance. When he is down to the business of boxing, that is when he is in the gym, he focuses and kills himself training like there is no tomorrow to guarantee a victory so that when he loses, he would not be blaming no one else but himself.

These feats have become more meaningful in the current times when Filipinos desire for hope and illusion as a response to the conditions of despair brought about by the recent calamities. Since the people needed a distraction from these conditions of despair that surround them, PACQUIAO stepped up as always to provide the hope and illusion of victory. In doing so, he knew that since the odds were not as good as before (having MIGUEL COTTO as the toughest opponent he had to face), it would take more than a winning formula to guarantee a win. He could have looked back into his previous wins and avoided deviations, but then again he believed that his preparations, hell no, his superb preparation was way better than the belief for superstitions.

I must admit that I too am among those who rely much on a winning formula to guarantee a victory (as I am among the protagonists). In all of PACQUIAO’s previous blow-out wins, I tagged along someone with me and I was quick to believe that she must be the lucky charm. That is why when she told me that she could not join me to see the fight, like a cynic, I did entertain doubts as to the outcome of the fight. While I certainly believed in PACQUIAO’s capacities as a fighter, to my mind, what if the lucky charms were actually contributory to his victories? What if in all his forthcoming fights, she wouldn’t be around anymore to bring in my illusion of contributory charm to PACQUIAO?

Midway into the fourth round, PACQUIAO began to prove me wrong. After 35 minutes and 55 seconds of non-stop action, he gave me this bittersweet realization that what mattered in his victory was PACQUIAO himself and not my lucky charm as I believed it. Bitter it was for while I longed so much to be with her just like before in that moment of triumph it was nonetheless sweet because it gave me a lesson of hope and illusion in my moment of despair.

Indeed, life, like boxing is a tough game that requires more than chance. The preparations you bring in before the fight certainly would dictate the way the boxer would perform on top the ring. In life, what we do now is a preparation for the tougher fights we will encounter in the future. Our dismal preparation today, or worse the lack of preparation for that matter, may prove to be the cause of our failures and not due to our beliefs of charms and “pamahiins”. I certainly do not want to see myself languishing in defeat in the future, that is why, just like PACQUIAO I am willing to tread the difficult if need be.