Waiting for the Pacman in London

LONDON -- On June 8, 2002, the night Lennox Lewis pummeled Mike Tyson, a number of Filipino friends and I were crammed in the living room of my London home.

It was already 5 a.m. in London when the fight started and most of us were too tired to celebrate Lewis's victory.

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Most of us swore because we bet on the aging but still charismatic Iron Mike and watching live TV at 5 a.m. was torture.

We just could not wait for the referee to raise Lewis' hands and jump on our beds.

Some of my friends had to report for work at 7 a.m. and I could not imagine how they could work without any sleep at all. I was lucky it was my day off.

Despite our lack of sleep, we were all in a jolly mood when I started to lead my friends to the door. Only one man put smiles on our faces that sleepy morning, Pacman.

Manny Pacquiao was already a household name in the Philippines at that time but he was not a worldwide phenomenon yet. He was not the main card drawer. He only co-starred in the Tyson-Lewis bout.

He delivered an incredible performance in front of 12,000 fans who stormed the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee to witness the supposed comeback fight of Iron Mike.

DEMOLITION

His two-round demolition of Mexican Jorge Eliezer Julio not only impressed the tough American boxing audience but also attracted top American promoters that made sure he would no longer co-star in his next fight.

His performance that night made the promoters think that Pacman deserved to be in the main draw, the leading man in the business of prize fighting.

That night also started his journey to immortality as he disposed his opponents one by one, the last of which was David Diaz in Las Vegas in June of this year.

BRITISH CHAMPION

Pacquiao was then being groomed to challenge the over rated British champion Prince Naseem Ahmed.

The thought that we could watch Pacman live here in London made us, his legions of Filipino fans, excited.

Hamed fought Barrera in Las Vegas on June 4, 2001 but was beaten black and blue and lost via a unanimous decision. He did not know what hit him.

Hamed tried to get back to the ring the following year on May 18 at the Excel Arena against Manuel Calvo. He won via unanimous decision but his performance was so bad that he decided to retire from boxing after that.

Hamed's retirement dashed all our hopes of watching Pacman fight in the UK. Hamed was the only decent fighter in UK that could challenge Pacquiao in the bantam and featherweight divisions.

ENTER THE HITMAN

When Pacman moved up to the lightweight division and defeated David Diaz, the hopes of all Filipinos here came back to life.

There is now a great possibility that he could come to the UK anytime next year to fight British superstar Ricky Hatton.

That would be amazing and I am already starting to save my pounds so I can see Pacman fight the Manchester City Hitman.

Most London tabloids prefer Oscar De La Hoya but according to Hatton, he prefers to fight Pacquiao as they are more or less the same height and weight.

Fighting De La Hoya would be a big risk for Hatton as the former Olympic gold medalist is too big for him like Floyd Mayweather.

Hatton suffered his only defeat from Mayweather, a 10 round TKO, in August last year.

Regardless of the result of the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight on December 6, Ricky Hatton and his handlers are already preparing for a fight against the Pacman. De La Hoya had promised earlier that the fight with Pacquiao will be his last before he finally retires.

If the Hatton camp is already preparing for the Pacquiao fight then there is a strong possibility that the Hatton vs. Pacquiao clash is already in the can. Remember De La Hoya is also Hatton's promoter in the USA.

But before we think about that fight, my Filipino friends and I will go to my Pareng Lindo's house on December 6, stay up all night and watch the fight on his high definition TV.

We will watch the Pacman beat the hell out of the Golden Boy or we will witness the Golden Boy swallow the Pacman. God bless.

(Jack Biantan was a former Assistant Sports Editor of Sun.Star Cebu. He works in London and has a column on the internet magazine Pinoysoccer.com.)(Jack Biantan)

For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio.

(December 2, 2008 issue)
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