Manny Pacquiao Simply the Best Boxer

In what appears to be Manny Pacquiao's biggest opponent and test to his illustrious career, against Antonio Margarito, 4 1/2 inches taller and 17 lbs heavier, Pacquiao did what he does best-winning a boxing match in a very convincing manner. Margarito suffered a devastating defeat that he needs a surgery to his fractured eye socket. It was such a one-sided match that you may think that Pacquiao had the best training and Margarito had so many distractions.

Much has been written and said about Team Pacquiao's camp and training being the worst ever, from distractions in Baguio City and meetings with politicians, a singing engagement in a tv show, coaching a basketball team in the US, campaigning for a US Senator, preparing for a concert after the Margarito match, Pacquiao has done it all. He has multi tasked once again, in the weeks before his bout with Margarito, and pulled off a very convincing win that makes people wonder how did he do all that? Will he ever be called the greatest boxer even if does not have a match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at all?

I say, yes. Definitely. Pacquiao does not need Mayweather to be called the best. Mayweather may be a defensive specialist, and has not lost once but he has not made any convincing win as convincing as Pacquiao has done from the last boxing matches he had. According to Bob Arum, his manager, Manny has not only won his match against his opponents but perhaps ended or altered their careers. From David Diaz, Oscar dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. Among the boxers mentioned, only Joshua Clottey seems to probably have a future in boxing. Diaz has not been heard for a while, Dela Hoya and Hatton retired, Cotto is still recovering and Margarito will need several months, probably a year to heal his wounds and spirit. Mayweather has repeatedly avoided having a match signed against Pacquiao and with legal issues hounding him right now against his former girlfriend, I doubt he will agree this time. Mayweather is not a multi tasker like Pacquiao and has not handled mental pressures as well as Pacquiao. At this point in time, Pacquiao is right, Mayweather needs him and Pacquiao does not need Mayweather.

If the match will defy odds and push through, when Floyd losses, everybody will expect that his reason for loosing will be his distractions outside the ring. This will be unfair for Pacquiao. Before every fight, Manny trains as hard as he can and it will be unfair to not credit him the win against Floyd. So, the best option may be a fight with Marquez. Will Marquez be a formidable opponent against Pacquiao? Is his performance against Mayweather a good gauge for him to be worthy of Pacquiao's stature? I say no. Some boxing analysts say that Pacquiao could have lost to Marquez once or twice but the Pacquiao who was against Marquez during those time was only half of what he is today. He is such an excellent boxer today that a match with Marquez will be a mismatch once again. Pacquiao's desired weight of 145 lbs is high for Marquez because he was so outclassed by Mayweather during their last match. But who knows? Maybe Marquez has improved too?

For me, this is the best time for Pacquiao to retire. He has achieved so much for the sport, for his family and for the Filipino people that it is hard to think of what is left for him to prove. His venture to politics may help or inspire more people but it may also be his downfall. Once he retires, I suggest for him to concentrate on helping other Filipino boxers achieve what he has done by providing a scientific way of training them and hiring the best trainers from all over the world. There may never be another Manny Pacquiao to pass by Philippine history but it will be nice to see Pacquiao protegees once in a while. Not only in boxing, he may venture in being the country's godfather in sports and help athletes have good exposure, training and equipment so that in 5 or 10 years from now, we may soon achieve our first, second or maybe third gold medal in the greatest sporting event of all time- the Olympics.

Philippine Elections 2010

It has been more than 10 days since the last elections and so far we had a relatively good one. Except for the country's Vice President, I think everything is clear who will be our leaders for the next 6 years. For the President, Noynoy Aquino got more than 4 million votes compared to the second placer Joseph Estrada and in my opinion, Erap should be a gentleman and should concede and accept his loss. In fact, for the vice presidency, even though I am not a fan of Jojo Binay, I think Mar Roxas should start accepting that it would take a miracle to overtake Binay's lead of more than 700,000 votes and just concentrate on being a good senator and an adviser to Noynoy Aquino.

The country's first automated election is a 90% success and we should commend Comelec and Smartmatic for doing a good job (not great, but a passing mark). We should be thankful that we did not have several areas and provinces that had a failure of elections and this may be considered birth pains since it was our first time to had an automated one. A lot has to be learned from this year's experience and we must be more vigilant and be better to the next automated elections we will have in about 3 years. We may still experience a few errors on our second try but if we correct our mistakes and be more efficient, I can see that our elections will someday be as clean and efficient as the US elections.

Having a second Aquino as our president will indeed have a lot of expectations from the people. Just by watching and listening to his campaign ads in TV and radio, people expect him not to be corrupt and avoid committing the same mistakes as the Arroyo, Estrada and Marcos administration. Gloria Arroyo has been a good senator and a vice president but when she assumed the highest position, the temptation was too big for her not to notice. Her accomplishments as an economist was overshadowed by corruption cases and allegations thrown to her which were often supported by witnesses who got the sympathy of the public. Her husband, being the center of controversies was always implicated which added the public's distrust to the first couple. Now, after running and winning a congressional position to her hometown in Pampanga, people are saying that she will push for a charter change which will eventually bring her back to power as a prime minister. The Arroyos have been addicted to power and money that they do not know when to stop and try to exit properly.

Noynoy Aquino has a big hole to fill and 6 years is such a short time to help recover a third world country. A lot of issues has to be prioritized and he needs all the help he can have. I sincerely wish he avoids appointing traditional politicians as cabinet members and focus more on the youth and civil society. I pray that self serving politicians will be kicked out from their positions and deserving ones will be appointed. Since 6 years is a very short time, I think the president should try not to solve everything at the same time and focus on the most obvious. Poverty and population is the main problem and he should focus on the cause of poverty. Education and health is the key and if people are well educated, all other problems will eventually be solved.

Good luck and God Bless to our new leaders and let us all do our part to help make our country a better place to live in.