Manny Pacquaio vs Oscar de La Hoya

“It’s a mismatch, De la Hoya is way too big for Pacquaio”. “De la Hoya will knock-down Pacquiao”.

These are some of the comments before the fight. Six inches reach advantage, 4 inches height advantage, their comments is not without basis. Pacquiao was a 2-1 underdog, De la Hoya fought in the super welterweight or middle weight in the last seven years, Pacquiao fought 75% of his fights at super bantamweight or lower. But when moment the bell rang, Pacquaio wrote another story, a story of hard work, speed and punching power.

It is not the first time that Manny Pacquaio was the underdog in a fight. I remember his first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera. The crowd was almost filled by Barrera fans, Manny was not famous yet and no senator or congressmen was there to watch his fight. Barrera was known to be a skilled and better fighter than pacquiao but as what happened with his fight against De La Hoya, Manny wrote another story.

Manny Pacquaio is really phenomenal not only in boxing but also for the whole country as well. Once again during his fight, zero crime rate, no armed encounter between government troops and the rebel groups, no traffic jam. For and hour or two, the whole country stands still and is united, rich and poor, young and old, administration and opposition, criminals and policemen/women, rebels and government troops are all watching Manny Pacquiao fight, cheering everytime Manny lands a punch.

I wish the Philippines will have a story like Manny Pacquiao who literally fought his way out of poverty. At the young age of 15, worked in a tailoring shop during the day and trained at 5pm. He has also worked in a construction as a painter and welder and sold flowers in front of the church during Sundays.

As a Nation maybe we can fight our way out of poverty and corruption.