Pacquiao: Great career with no great ending

Pacquiao: Great career with no great ending

On Saturday evening, Manny Pacquiao walked down to the ring for what he declared before and afterward would be the final time.

He went on to dominate an exciting, enjoyable battle against one of his many storied rivals before going back to the dressing room one last time to unwrap that final course of wrist tape while boxing experts around the world paid fitting tribute to the only eight-weight world champion in history.

And yet, despite all this, something about Manny’s last fight felt a little flat.

Pacquiao’s accomplishments, profile and fan base ensured that his swan song would be a big moment, regardless of the date, venue or opponent.

It just seems that his last bout would have been more anticipated, more exciting, more ominous.

Perhaps one of the problems is with the word ‘retirement’ itself, when it comes to fight sports.

We’ve seen many a boxer proclaim that he has fought his last fight, only to return a little while later – sometimes even sooner than that.

Floyd Mayweather had a similar issue in his self-proclaimed final fight last September – many are certain he’ll return for win number 50, when it suits him.

Speaking of Floyd, another reason Pacquiao’s finale underwhelmed slightly was that his penultimate bout, against Mayweather, took away some of the mystique on ‘Pac-Man’.

For six years, fans hoped to finally see the two pound-for-pound best in the world do battle. After many twists, turns, swerves and frustrations it finally happened in May 2015 – and saw Floyd cruise to a flat decision win before Pacquiao revealed after the bout he’d taken a shoulder injury into a fight which cost fans a lot of money to watch.

Floyd’s own tame retirement bout had some of the same issues Manny’s suffered from, as well.

Nobody cared about seeing Mayweather fight average non-threat Andre Berto. And nobody particularly cared about seeing a ‘rubber match’ between Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, since the only people who thought Bradley won their first fight were the judges and the Filipino went on to decisively avenge the controversy in 2014.

 

One final, unfortunate reason the Pacquiao bandwagon stumbled over the finish line was the public relations nightmare in the build-up to the Saturday showdown, during which Pacquiao made tasteless and needless comments about homosexuals, saying they are “worse than animals”.

As an athlete many look to as the hero – whether against cocky villain-type Mayweather, making charitable donations to victims of disasters or through his tireless work to improve life back in the Philippines – this Bible-based faux-pas back in February was a disaster. Especially when you consider the fact that his apology was hardly an apology at all.

Pacquiao began by saying: “I’m sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I’ve hurt.

But then, he continued: “I still stand on my belief that I’m against same sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I’m not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God bless you all and I’m praying for you.”

As Martin Sheen’s infamous monologue in TV drama The West Wing points out, there are some alarming things Pacquiao would also condone if he is to insist on rigidly following every word of a religious book first created in a far different world than the one in which he became one of boxing’s biggest icons.

And though an icon he will remain, though Hall of Fame entry and professional reverence are guarantees for Pacquiao, his career simply did not end in a fitting manner for a variety of reasons, including those speculated upon above. In most instances, he has to accept some of the blame.

As a result, you have to wonder if it would be as groan-inducing as it normally is, should Pacquiao actually go back on his word and come back for one or several more fights.

Trainer Freddie Roach said Pacquiao’s physical conditioning and form going into the third Bradley fight was his best in years, and that it made him sorry that Manny was insisting on hanging up the gloves.

While a 180-degree turn on a retirement pledge will sour a few of his fans, perhaps many would welcome the outside possibility of Pacquiao returning for a proper final fight, instead of an unnecessary anticlimax of a third fight against a vanquished foe in the shadow of Floyd Mayweather and amidst a PR storm.

Either way, it must be said that Pacquiao’s career as a whole will overshadow the way he wrapped it up – and so it should. At a time where boxing could really do with a few more global megastars, ‘Pac-Man’ will be sorely missed between the ropes.

By Alec Blatherwick/Yahoo! Sports UK

Tags:

Boxing Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather Timothy Bradley

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