IT’S nostalgia time, huh?
So, if Jingo Quijano’s piece on the Pacquiao-Barrera fight of 17 years ago had prodded Mike Limpag to revisit memory lane, eloquently that is, why not me as well?
It’s not really because of the exigencies of the time that I’m going to toss in a bit of my mind on it but, honestly, that bout occupies a special spot in my heart for a couple of reasons. It might have even changed the direction of my attitude in dealing with succeeding fights—Pacquiao or no Pacquiao. Stick to stats.
Two reasons etched in stone.
First, that fight’s outcome made me more than a winner as it validated, more or less I would like to believe, my firm grasp of the sweet science.
Two, after the fight, Hermie Rivera, the maker of world boxing champions (Luisito Espinosa and Morris East), has become my No. 1 fan. What could be a better reward than that?
The glee in me that day was beyond measurement by anyone. Not even Einstein. Or Ptolemy.
All because that day in November 2003, Manny Pacquiao, the super underdog, stopped Marco Antonio Barrera, the Mexican icon in world featherweight strata.
Almost everybody—including my kumpadres Jingo and Mike, maybe?—in the Philippines picked Barrera to win. Except Mommy Dionisa.
I was in the TV panel that day as a fight analyst along with Quinito Henson, with Ed Picson and, yes, Hermie Rivera as anchors.
They were all for Barrera. Except me.
“Are you kidding me?” said Hermie. “You must be out of your mind, kiddo!”
“Maybe,” I said. “But I figured Barrera to be damaged goods as his number of fights, counting those in his amateur days, is more than double that of Pacquiao’s.”
They all laughed at me.
Turns out I had the loudest laugh.
As was our usual routine after a hard day’s work in the studio, Hermie and I would retreat to a joint; a pizza parlor on Timog Ave. Q.C. was it. (Quinito and Ed had begged off.)
“You made every one of us in the panel a f***in’ fool today, buddy,” Hermie said after his first gulp of draft beer. “You are my idol from here on.”
May Hermie’s soul rest in peace.