boxing

"To see a man beaten not by a better opponent 
but by himself is a tragedy."
 -- Cus D'Amato

boxing is a sport, yes, but, like modern-day wars, it's also a business. people can only wish for a great fight but there's no guarantee at all.

when a boxing match is touted as the "fight of the century" (never mind that it's just 15 years into this century), you can't blame people for expecting a mayweather-pacquiao bout to be something like an ali-frazier slugfest or even better. unfortunately, this "fight of the century" failed to live up to the hype and this is not surprising. quite predictably, mayweather won by taking advantage of a strategy that does not make him lose points in the game, anyway, but takes away the very idea of boxing as a contact sport of throwing power punches and not so much about turning far too many opportunities into the art of hugging and running about in the ring. still, congratulations floyd mayweather, jr.!

i am writing this and i am not even a fan of boxing. i just happen to read many, many months ago about the muhammad ali-joe frazier boxing matches, especially the anecdotes on the "thrilla in manila" (ali-frazier 3); check them out online then you'll have an idea or two of what a "fight of the century" should at least be. 

i was hoping mayweather would step up his game a bit in this boxing match to make things worthwhile for the boxing fans but it's like asking for the moon and stars -- he's just self-absorbed that way and, good for him, his boxing style lets him stay undefeated. his style, by the way, reminds me of winning any contest by mere technicalities, not by a spectacular display of excellence to raise the bar.

at best, i've only seen pictures of the mayweather-pacquiao match; i haven't seen any of the videos -- i don't have to. oh no! if it's just another one of those boxing matches with no KO's nor remarkable exchanges of punches, i don't have to watch otherwise it's just like reading a story with no climax nor cliffhangers, eating spaghetti without meatballs, drinking expired soda -- no fizz -- (and they all remind me of that biblical latin phrase "mane thecel phares" quoted in el filibusterismo) -- not worth the while, a waste of time.

i learned about how things were like during the mayweather-pacquiao bout mostly from facebook posts, which made it easy for me to imagine how mayweather played it like he always does because i've seen clips of his previous fights and there's nothing special in his wins -- his smart style of securing the win is boring. pacquiao, on the other hand, knows how to give a great show when he's in the ring, win or lose.

unsurprisingly, mayweather arrogantly claimed that he did more for boxing than muhammad ali BUT, if being the announced winner who got heavily booed by the crowd is any indication, this is just him and his money team shamelessly and desperately plugging his 'TBE' business. despite his undefeated record, the crowd and the other greats wouldn't readily serve glory and greatness to him. 

05.03.15 it's a pacman world today!

win or lose, it's how you play the game, how you do business. in deserving greatness, the HOW matters. :) congratulations manny pacquiao!

note: this was originally posted here.