Covering a fight featuring national pride Manny Pacquiao has become my personal obsession ever since The Pacman bulldozed his way into the international boxing limelight with his blinding speed and devastating power.
Pacquiao’s meteoric rise to the top of the fight game started more than a decade ago. So you can imagine my growing frustration when, as Pacquiao flattened his foes over the years, I have to be content with watching his blazing exploits on live pay-per-view.
Not bad actually because I know millions of Pacquiao’s fans are forced to make do with super delayed and commercials-loaded telecasts.
However, as time passed unnoticed, I realized I’m running out of time …… and resources, to realize my dream of watching the Filipino boxing dynamo fight live. The coveted autograph may never be signed after all, I sighed.
Pacquiao too is now on the tail end of an enviable career. The 34-year-old star, who will turn a year older next month, has lost two of his last fights – the last one a shocking sixth-round knockout to bitter nemesis Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez. Before that, he lost via majority decision to Timothy Bradley.
Maybe, I told myself, I will never get to watch him fight live and drown myself in the electric atmosphere inside a massive sports dome. This realization shattered me. I felt like an aging warrior now abandoned by his feared skills and forced to accept the grim prospect of finally hanging up his trusted boxing gloves.
But, as they say, life is full of surprises. And sometimes fate chooses to play a nicer joke.
Last July, respected international boxing judge Salven Lagumbay, a good friend, invited me to go with him to Macau to witness the Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios fight at the mammoth Cotai Arena inside the Venetian Resort and Spa.
Was Salven just trying to lighten up my mood since it was my birthday? Naturally I said ‘yes,’ with the usual ‘thank you” but never gave the idea much thought. Then Salven offered to have my old passport renewed. Gosh! The guy’s serious.
What he said next floored me: I don’t have to worry about spending whatever is left of my anorexic pay envelope. He will shoulder my plane and accommodation expenses. He must be heaven-sent.
Almost four months after I got that invitation from Salven, I am now leaving for Macau. At 12:45 p.m. today to be exact, via Cathay Pacific.
My dream of watching Manny Pacquiao fight live is finally coming true. And it is just three days away.
(I will be sending daily personal updates while in Macau. These will be for the millions of Pacquiao fans out there who share my dream. I just hope yours will end the way mine did. In the next installments, don’t miss the timeline though hehehe.)