Manny Pacquaio returned and lost the battle, but he gained the respect of the world.
For all the numbers, the events, the speculations, the conspiracy theories Manny Pacquaio calmly did his job, well, strong and awesomely true. Mario Barrios was younger by 16 years, bigger, taller wider, longer reach and has been through recent wars. Manny fought Udonis Ugas a good 700 days back and after that he just toyed around with exhibition matches and as a Family Man, earn his keep.
Mario Barrios was amazed by the stamina and quickness of Manny and said he was honored to fight the Boxing Hall of Fame inductee. He said, he will fight again Manny, soon. Which means the rematch is surely a possibility?
For us spectators, we are happy. Manny is a comfort food and a chance to unleash the fighting spirit that in most days are in slumber. For most of us, we view the match as a triumph of focus, purpose, and discipline. While we are watching the match, we are praying that Manny can hold the line and boy he was even more amazing than we expected. And as the fight progress, we were so happy seeing and being given the proof that we men above 40 years old can still rock, a little bit, a little slower yet Manny said fight on!
As we face daily struggles and daily grind where the physical and the mental and even the financial challenges came full swinging, punching we are happy to see how many faced the onslaught with calm and possibility, kaya Pala!
Today, Manny proved that focus, purpose, and discipline can tame the reality of entropy and that time can be slowed and fight can be won, if only we will have the heart, the resolve of that old guy. It is not just a cliché ; it was proven today.