[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’FELL THE GAME | Jeff getting Horn-y for PacMan’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY BOBBY MOTUS
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Saturday, July 1, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MIDDAY tomorrow, Australia will witness the biggest boxing match in their continent in decades when a Brisbane-born and grown teacher-turned-boxer exchanges blows with the world’s only active prize fighter and incumbent senator.
This will be Manny Pacquiao’s first fight in the land Down Under and promoters expect more than 55,000 fight fans to pack the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the biggest live audience to witness a fight this part of the world.
I could probably be one of the millions of people around the globe who would love to have the chance to smack a politician on the face or whichever part of his anatomy without fear of litigation, being mauled or getting shot. What an achievement it would have been. I suppose PacMan’s ring opponents, a good majority of them on the losing end, do take comfort in the thought that even in defeat, they had the opportunity and the recorded memory of pummelling and bruising a lawmaker.
PacMan will be fighting Jeff Horn this time without the pricey pay-per-view. The match will be aired by ESPN on cable TV, part of a new deal between the sports broadcasting network and Top Rank Promotions. This is a welcome relief for fight fans as cable TV at least eases the burden of paying and expecting too much from a fighter who hasn’t scored a knockout in eight years. PacMan fights for the first time since 2005 without shares of revenues from PPV.
As usual, Freddie Roach says it will be a “quick and sweet” fight and we’ve heard this since forever. In fairness to Manny, he doesn’t say those things. As always, he’s careful with his words since he will be up against a fighter 10 years his junior and three inches taller. “I know the fans will be rooting hard for Jeff Horn. They should. He represents them well. But I have a job to do and I am ready to go to war with Jeff Horn.”
The unknown Horn is suddenly on the spotlight with a global boxing icon as an opponent. He has so far defeated 17 opponents thrown at him, all nowhere near the caliber of PacMan. Then again, he can always land that one big lucky punch that even one of the world’s best fighters can’t duck. If he does that, he gets instant fame, glory and wealth. And this will be the exact time for Manny to finally hang up his gloves for good and never, ever un-retire.
At 38 years old, Manny doesn’t have many fights left and this one must count. The teacher-turned-boxer is still not in the league of the elite welterweight fighters around but he’s known to be aggressive and has the backing of the hometown crowd. PacMan will be fighting in one of the rare times that he’s not the crowd favorite.
Horn is in the fight of his life and regardless of the outcome, the world from now on will be aware of him. His camp declared that they had prepared hard for this match, saying that PacMan’s time has come to an end. Horn even bared that he had a vision, a dream of himself on top of the ring with the championship belt. Fight promoter Dean Lonegan of Duco Events said that this will be Manny’s toughest fight ever. “It will be like 100 angry hornets surrounding him.”
For the record, all the undefeated and much younger fighters who had the chance to face Manny Pacquiao all savored for the first time the bitter taste of defeat. It’s now up to PacMan to preserve this tradition and Horn to break it.
It’s the fighting senator versus the fighting school teacher. Who will school who? If Horn goes toe-to-toe with Manny, this will be a good fight, maybe a “quick and sweet” fight. A PacMan relief from the knockout drought will excite the global boxing fans. Let the Battle of Brisbane begin and let peace reign in the Philippines even for a few hours./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
