Pages: Sarah Ching reports on Pacman from Dallas

ANDREW Ching is the past president of our Rotary Club of Cebu West. His daughter, Sarah Monique, is on her freshman year studying Economics and Finance on a full scholarship with the University of Texas. Here’s Part I of Sarah’s story, The PacMan Experience.

“Since Jan. 11, my dad has been telling me to buy tickets for The Event. My reply: “Samok. Who cares?” After a month of nagging, I relented and looked for tickets online. Prices had skyrocketed! Floor seats were selling for $4,000. All the $50-seats had sold out. I ended up buying the $200 ticket.

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I wasn’t excited. I’ve never watched Pacquiao, live or on TV.

Nope, not even on replay. The extent of my boxing knowledge was watching dad play Fight Night 3 on PS3. Fight week came and my dad told me to watch the Open Workout. It was March 8 and the workout was the next day. I debated for hours. Should I go?

Tuesday morning came and I still hadn’t decided. But I thought about how excited my dad was. Of all places, they picked Dallas.

This was a chance I’m never going to get again... I got out of class, jumped into my car, and drove 20 miles expertly weaving through traffic. I felt like I was in a Hollywood high-speed car chase...

The doors opened and the mob rushed in. I was stuck in the back, and the fact that I’m short wasn’t helping. Somehow, I managed to squeeze myself to the front.

Perfect view! The makeshift gym was buzzing with excitement.

Pacquiao entered the gym and was greeted with cheers. In the ring were Jerry Jones, Bob Arum and Michael Irvin, who playfully put his fist on the fighter’s jaw.

It was a long wait before the music started pumping and Manny started shadow-boxing. Pacquiao showed off to the 1,000-plus fans present by firing his weapons of mass destruction at an invisible opponent. Poor invisible guy. Pacman donned his green Everlast gloves and Freddie Roach entered the ring. Roach wore a Wild Card Gym body protector and hand pads. Pacquiao started out lightly.

He hit harder, faster. His fists pounded Roach, and I found myself fearing for his life.

After about an hour thirty of slamming punch after punch, he called it a day. The fans waited for Pacquiao to come over. He did. Fans pummeled each other to get a good close look at The People’s Champ. When he started signing autographs, oh my… I’ve got the bruises to prove it. Unfortunately, when he stopped at me, I didn’t bring anything for him to sign. To top it all, people behind were clawing at whatever obstacle stood in between them and Pacquiao. Being short really sucks. So he stopped in front of me and then it was over and his bodyguards whisked him away.

Pacquiao stunned even a boxing ignoramus like me with his lightning-fast hand-speed and powerful punches... his disarming, almost goofy smile. If he was a beast in the media workout, what’ll he be on fight night?

WEIGH-IN. I couldn’t wait for Friday. The stadium was about an hour away and the weigh-in would last only 15 minutes. But hey, I wanted to show my support...

It wasn’t difficult locating the Cowboys Stadium. A magnificent domed building gleamed in the rays of the setting sun, beckoning to me. I found my way to the stage and was greeted by the sight of a huge crowd. I guess I wasn’t early enough. The weigh-in was outside East Plaza, so I wouldn’t be able to see the inside just yet. And then suddenly the wall split open and revealed the inside! That just freaked me out. We could see part of the interior and it was huge!

Present were Robert Duvall, Darren Woodson, Marco Antonio Barrera, Gerry Peñalosa. Michael Buffer’s voice boomed over the speakers. The crowd waited in anticipation for Pacquiao and Clottey to step onto the scales. Clottey was introduced but only got a few cheers; even then, a group of Filipinos said they only cheered for him because they felt sorry (I have this on tape).

Pacquiao, however, got on stage and the crowd erupted. I waved my sign high and we all chanted, “MAN-NY!, MAN-NY! MAN-NY!”

Continued on Sunday...

(Photos at www.pages.ph)