NO surprises there, really. Manny Pacquiao pretty much had his way with Adrien Broner as expected.
Our prediction of a unanimous decision victory for Manny was spot-on though the margins were a bit too generous for Broner whom I thought deserved to win only two rounds. And I’m being generous.
Manny has lost a step or two and gone are the staccato-like combinations we have been used to seeing from him a decade ago. But because he is several fight-years wiser, he is now pacing himself well and his defense has improved.
Bottom line? Pacquiao at 70 percent strength is still good enough to beat the top-tier fighters out there.
BRONER. The problem with “The Problem” is that he is delusional and seemingly unable to grasp the reality that he is not as good a fighter as he perceived himself to be.
Despite being dominated the entire fight, AB had the gall to complain about the decision and proclaim himself as deserving of the verdict.
Maybe the epithet AB doesn’t mean “About Billions” but “Absolutely Blind.”
TEPORA. The Bummer of the Night award, of course, goes to Jhack Tepora, who blew his chance fight on the pay-per-view opener and earn a $50,000 purse by coming in overweight by 5.5 pounds for his scheduled featherweight encounter against Hugo Ruiz of Mexico.
Weight issues are a common occurrence among fighters, but a 5.5-pound infraction is absolutely appalling, especially when you are about to have the biggest fight of your career.
What was this kid thinking?
For the followers of this column, you know that I am a huge Jhack Tepora fan and the first time I saw him fight at a local mall here in Cebu, I already ordained him as a future world champion.
It’s frustrating to see a fighter with his skill-set losing focus at this early stage of his career, but since this is the first time, and he has been sincerely apologetic about the whole thing, let’s give him a pass.
Get your act together Jhack. This is your time. Stop super-sizing your fries and upsizing your drink. Get down and do the dirty work needed to be a world champion.
Don’t let your fans down.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my cousin Atty. Dax Quijano, who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!