Conflicting reports concerning Manny Pacquiao and his training camp are surely part hype. Most folks understand that. So why get so worked up over it? Some have taken to deriding fairly tame stories emerging from the Philippines lately with the kind of bite forum beasts confuse with rhetoric.
Big fight ballyhoo goes back to the earliest days of boxing when there were no internet hacks around writing about how thick Pacquiao might let his moustache grow before fight night. Doc Kearns, Joe Jacobs, Jimmy Johnston, Joe Gould, and Dan Morgan types no longer exist to really put some pizzazz into promotional showmanship. Instead, we are stuck with tales of colds, pick-up basketball games, and sparring sessions—the prosaic stuff most cyberspace dreams are made of.
Still, there those who find even these reports irritating. Some people are never going to be happy with anything attached to the Pacquiao-Margarito bout because of overriding moral concerns. (Watch how many of these same moralists wind up ordering the fight. Unless, of course, they download an illegal stream, which is worth two or three hearty chuckles in itself.)
In addition, there is an awful lot of knowing out there these days. Everyone knows Andre Dirrell is feigning injuries. Everyone knew Mikkel Kessler was, too. Just like they all knew that Alexis Arguello was murdered. And everyone knows Margarito first loaded his hand wraps as a toddler–which made it hard for him to grasp his milk bottle–and they all know who twisted an ankle legitimately, and, like the Shadow, they also know what evil lurks inside the hearts of men. These preternatural beings, who ought to audition for a spot on “The Psychic Detectives,” have made sure to share their powerful insights on nearly every facet of the Pacquiao-Margarito buildup despite the fact that these reports are normal for any fight of a certain magnitude.
As for Pacquiao, he appears to be more distracted than ever. Never one to choose peace and tranquility leading up to a fight, Pacquiao has now added some congressional duties to his list of commotions. (All that seems to be missing is for someone to smack Michael Koncz around.)
Whether or not any of this affects his performance against Margarito remains to be seen. What most ranting moral arbiters fail to realize—despite their apparent ESP—is that there will be an actual prize fight taking place on November 13th, and when the bell rings, anything can happen. Margarito, after all, is not Peter McNeeley. He is a fighter–a disgraced one, no doubt–with a substantial body of work and a slew of accomplishments. This separates him from any number of boxers who duck through the ropes these days and should be enough to dispel the notion that his bout with Pacquiao is some sort of set-up. After all, set-ups are on sick display in boxing more often than it rains on Mount Waiʻaleʻale. If an expert barker cannot tell the difference between a set-up and a boxing match, should someone take away his keyboard? This is not to make any claims about the inherent competitiveness of the matchup. Maybe Pacquiao flattens Margarito in a mere 20 seconds. If so, it will be because he is the superior fighter, not because Margarito is a pushover.
Margarito may or may not deserve to be permanently barred because of his previous transgressions, but once he answers the opening bell, he will be trying his hardest to win. Although there are many who might disagree on the basis that they just happen to know otherwise.
Source: thecruelestsport.com
