I've read countless explanations of why the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight spun into the kitchen sink drain, never more to be seen. Many have sided with Manny, nearly as many are on Pretty Boy Floyd's side.
No matter how I turned the issue in my head to look at all the possible angles, one image always stuck out. It was the image of a boxer's heart.
The boxer's heart probably pounds at 160 to 180 beats per minute while the boxer is in the ring, according to some scientific researches that have been done. In a championship fight that lasts 12 rounds, that means the heart races for 36 minutes at a pace that would kill average Joes like you and me.
I'm sure I would die of a heart attack after one round with my heart racing at 160 to 180 beats per minute.
Boxers, especially world-class boxers like Manny Pacquiao and Pretty Boy Floyd, don't even notice that their hearts are racing at breakneck speed for long periods. Manny Pacquiao, in fact, trained for 5 hours per session, non-stop, at the normal speed of his championship fights to get ready for his last outing, the one against Miguel Cotto.
I'm sure that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. also trains as hard and works his heart to the limit and even beyond.
Both fighters must have very strong hearts, else neither one of them would have reached the pinnacle of their boxing careers at this point.
But that is not the heart that concerned me about a month ago, when I decided to deploy the electronic fly I use to spy on famous people. The electronic fly, which I call "Drone-y" (I know, it's not original) attaches itself to walls in rooms where famous people meet and strategize, takes videos and tapes conversations.
I wanted to examine the true heart of the two boxers, the intangible "heart" that people talk about when they say: "Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dug deep in their hearts and put on the show of the century, The Thrilla in Manila. They left everything in the ring that night, two warriors joined in a struggle that would define each boxer's life, two boxers whose hearts were bigger than their muscular frames, bigger than the sport that was their career and livelihood."
That is the heart I am talking about, the intangible that one cannot put a finger on, cannot discern with the regular senses, but which one can deduce from the actions, the words, the thought processes of the protagonists.
Why do I question the hearts of either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, Jr.? Haven't they proved enough to the world that they were two brave warriors who would take on the best opponents available to them over the years? Did they not handily or brutally beat all comers?
Yes, I would question them because while they have fought the best fighters around, they have never fought each other. Now it's Manny vs. Floyd. It's not about either of them fighting the other contenders in the world of boxing. It's now about them fighting each other.
Who was the first to blink? Whose intangible heart had a slight twinge of inadequacy? Who was first to decide that finding out who is the best pound-for-pound is not really that important?
I wanted to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the cancellation of the Manny-Floyd fight of the century (so far in the 21st) so I went to work. I deployed my spy, Drone-y, to an undisclosed war strategy room of the Mayweathers. Drone-y came back to me after observing and recording the conversations of the chief strategists in the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. camp.
Floyd, Jr., his father Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Richard Shaefer of the Golden Boy promotions, were in the room along with a couple of handlers. They were just shooting the breeze, figuring out a ring strategy to use against Manny, a fighter unlike any that Junior had ever fought. What strategy would work against Manny, who has proved so unorthodox that none of the best fighters he has faced in recent years have been able to device a strategy that proved effective?
"I know," said Floyd, Sr., rising from a mahogany desk he had been sitting on, "Let's toy with his head. Let's make him angry, let's make him overeager and unsure of himself."
"But how do you do that?" asked Floyd, Jr.
"Do you see them muscles? Notice how Manny has bulked up too fast over the past year? Man-alive, how can anyone go from lightweight to welterweight in a year and not lose his strength?" continued the older Mayweather.
"No," chimed in Shaefer, "you just can't do that, not unless..."
"You mean he's on steroids?" said Floyd the younger.
"That's got to be the explanation," said one of the unnamed handlers, "he's got to be on steroids. After all, didn't that dude Atlas say Manny was on steroids?"
"Forget about Atlas," Jr. said, "How do we prove that he uses steroids?"
"I know," said Sr., "let's insist on drug testing a la Olympics."
"But nobody in boxing is tested for drugs using the Olympic Games rules," protested Jr. "Manny will not agree to that, he has too much pride. The Nevada Athletic Commission rules are in effect here, and those rules are far less restrictive than the Olympic Games."
"Well, if he doesn't agree to it, we have him by the b___s," Sr. says. "People will think that he has something to hide and the whispering campaign will make him put up. His mind will be all over the map, he will not be able to concentrate."
"Sounds like a brilliant strategy, dad," said Floyd, Jr. "Let's run with this."
My electronic fly went on the blink at this point and though I've tried and tried to make it reveal to me the rest of the taped conversation in the Mayweather planning room, so far I've been unsuccessful. Maybe someday new technology will be invented that will allow me to retrieve that part of the Mayweather camp's conversation that has been truncated off.
Oh, and going back to that intangible heart. The taped conversation that I played over and over was revealing in a very important way. Floyd, Jr.'s voice sounded tentative and suggested an analytical bent. Jr. appeared on the tape to be coldly analyzing Manny and trying to figure out how best to fight him.
There was none of the swagger of an Arnold Schwarzenegger promising "I'll be back."
The winner of the now-scuttled Manny vs. Floyd fight must have that Arnold swagger. He is the one who emerges as the brute in the ring, the one propelled by his heart, not his brain.
Floyd chose to fight with his brain, to out-think, out-strategize Manny. Unbeknownst to him, he was psyching himself to lose that fight. If the fight were to go on, he would be destined to lose.
He must be very glad the fight has been canceled.
If this fight can be salvaged at all, Mayweather must be prepared to fight with his heart. I mean his heart of hearts, that intangible palpable beating heart that tells the man that this is it, this is the place where the man either lives or dies, emerges victor or loser.
It takes a very brave man to put himself in that moment of decision. Will Mayweather find that heart that he had temporarily misplaced and call Manny and say he will no longer insist on Olympics-style testing for PEDs?
Is he even interested in finding out who the best pound-for-pound champion in the world is? Does he already know?
By the way, the Mayweather camp must now defend itself against a defamation suit brought on by Manny. Manny is very upset because there have been suggestions, in public, that Manny may be on steroids, something that Manny has never been accused of anytime in the past. Manny has passed every blood and urine test he has taken and no one has even remotely suggested that Manny was helped by steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) leading up to any of his fights, except from that Atlas flake.
This suit appears to be a potential KO in the first round, an open-and-shut case. In my opinion, Manny was in fact defamed.
The Heart of a Champion that beats in Manny's chest is now set to take the fight to the courtroom. It is not a one-dimension heart after all. It is also unafraid to fight in the ring of justice.
I said I was interested to find out which fighter did not really want a part of the other, yet I have deployed my electronic fly only to the Mayweather camp. I will next send the fly to Manny's camp in the Philippines.
(Looking at the recent pictures of the two fighters, which one appears more puffed up and bigger? Don't steroids make the user more muscular, rounder, bigger? You be the judge.)
From Armando Aspiras, as emailed to me:
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. Your analysis of the obtaining situation in the Philippines and your prediction about the country’s future are right on the money. Let your incisive insights be shared with the populace.
Armando
From Vivienne Angles, emailed to me:
ReplyDeleteHello, Cesar. I have been following the exchanges in the loop but more of a lurker. I am just curious. You have a picture of three young Muslim women. Where in the Philippines was this taken - Mindanao? Manila area? Part of my lresearch is on visual expressions of Islam (including clothing) so I have been tracking the changes in Muslim dress in the Philippines and SEAsia.
Vivienne
I was in Cebu, taking pictures at the Lapu-Lapu monument when I spotted the young Muslim women. I decided to take a picture of them after they smiled at me.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the schoolgirls behind the window bars was taken at the compound of the oldest mansion in Cebu City. I was taking pictures of the mansion when I noticed schoolgirls at the basement who were posing for pictures. So I clicked away.
From Lynn Abad Santos, by email:
ReplyDeleteCHAY,
TH MANNY PAQUIAO PIECE IS INTERESTING. IT IS REALLY NOT ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE MAN IN THE FIGHT BUT THE SIZE OF THE FIGHT IN THE MAN.
ON YOUR 64, RECENTLY NONOY CRITICIZED GLORIA FOR WHAT HE TERMED A POLITICAL STRATEGY IN PROSECUTING PILO JUST BEFORE THE ELECTIONS.
THAT WAS OUTRIGHT STUPID! BEING A VICTIM OF SIMILAR ATROCITIES HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER WHICH TELLS YOU A LOT ABOUT HIS JUDGMENT SKILLS.
THAT CORBITO-DACER KIDNAP-MURDER WAS COMMITTED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. THOSE RESPONSIBLE FELT THEY WERE ABOVE THE LAW AND THEREFORE THE FULL WEIGHT OF THAT LAW SHOULD BE MADE TO BEAR UPON THOSE INVOLVED.
Continuation of Lynn Abad Santos' comment:
ReplyDeleteEVEN FROM THE PREMISE OF COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY, PILO IS GUILTY. FOR HIM TO FEIGN IGNORANCE INSULTS THE INTELLIGENCE OF EVEN THE COMMON MAN.
AS FOR OUR PEOPLE, I AM AFRAID THEY WILL REMAIN INDOLENT FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. THEY ARE SIMPLY TOO DUMB TO UNDERSTAND THAT NO COUNTRY CAN SURVIVE IF ONLY 4% OF THE POPULATION IS PAYING FOR THE COST OF GOVERNMENT.'
MARCOS INDOCTRINATED A WHOLE GENERATION OF PINOYS INTO THE MINDSET THAT IF YOU ARE POOR, EVERYBODY ELSE OWES YOU A LIVING. THAT WAS HIS WAY OF LEGITIMIZING HIS DICTATORSHIP.
HOW CAN A POPULATION WITH THAT PERVERTED MINDSET HAVE ANY CONVICTION TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR ALL.
SINCE UNITING THE COUNTRY IS VIRTUALLY HOPELESS, THEN WE MIGHT AS WELL DISMEMBER IT, SO THERE WILL BE DIRECT ACCOUNTABILITY. MAKE IT A FEDERATION OF STATES LIKE MALAYSIA. NO MORE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
NO MORE IMPORT DUTIES TO CREATE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD AND SAVE ON NEEDLESS/HOPELESS ENFORCEMENT
MAYBE PEOPLE WILL THEN BECOME ACTIVELY INVOLVED BECAUSE IT IS NO LONGER A DISTANT ENTITY RUNNING THEIR LIVES BUT THE LOCAL PEOPLE THEY ELECTED. IF THEY DON'T PAY TAXES THEN THEY DESERVE NOTHING, AND CAN'T COMPLAIN TO ANYONE.
ALL MANNER OF POLITICAL PANDERING WILL STOP BECAUSE THE "MONEY" IS GONE.
LET THE STRONGER STATES SWALLOW THE WEAK. IF THE PEOPLE DO NOT LEARN TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE THEN THEY DESERVE TO BE SUBJUGATED.
RIGHT NOW THE PHILIPPINES IS VIRTUALLY LIVING IN A STATE OF ANARCHY. THE GOVERNMENT IS A JOKE. IT IS SO SORDID, NO ONE WANTS TO DO BUSINESS WITH THE COUNTRY ANYMORE.
THE WORLD SEES PINOYS EXCEL OUTIDE THEIR COUNTRY AND CANNOT FATHOM WHY THAT ENERGY CANNOT FIND A VENUE AT HOME.
LYNN
From Aquilino Alcantara to Lynn Abad Santos:
ReplyDeleteynn ...
I have always believed that the reason for your last statement is because: ... pinoys for some reason, never respect their fellow pinoys when it is an all pinoy situation ...
I dont know why but I see it everytime ...
boy alcantara
From Louie Fernandez to me:
ReplyDeleteCesar,
There was a time when Japan made cheap inferior products, although before that their products have always been of high quality because of their discipline and their perfectionist tradition. But when Western importers arrived they were not satisfied with the already low prices of Japanese wares. Year after year they demanded an ever lower price. This they accomplished by making the disparate and disunited craftsmen and manufacturers fight each other off to come up with an even lower bid than the previous year. As the importers "jewed" down the price naturally quality went down the drain, and workers were paid less and less. In a less than a couple decades Japan was producing crap. It gave Japan a bad name and there was no innovation. The rapacious importers simply exploited their sweat.
But the Japanese learned from this mistake. The strong central government established the powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry or MITI which united the manufacturers and required their export items to be priced a certain percentage higher than the previous year every year. MITI inspected export products for their quality keeping them out of the international market when they failed quality tests.
They were able to retain wise Western importers with a long term view. The cheap ones who merely wanted to exploit left which was just as well. In no time with a united front they were able to hold their margins with enough to invest in R and D for innovation and better quality for the next year.
With 80 disparate "Singapores" run by more or less warlords that will not happen in the Philippines. They will all suffer the same exploited fate as the disunited Japanese manufacturers of the past. Singapore's, and this is not to take away from the hard-working Singaporeans and the wise and clever governance of Lee Kwan Yu and later PMs, miracle is very much due to the fact that America and Britain had to prop up that city-state at the strategic choke point of the world's busiest waterway and make it rich -- to afford to be well-armed against Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia.
In short, breaking up the our beloved Philippines is no solution.
Louie
Hi Louie,
ReplyDeleteWe can't compare ourselves to Japan. The Japanese are a homogeneous people, we are not. So the national discipline that was present in Japan is never going to make even a cameo appearance in the Philippines.
The term "Philippine culture" is an oxymoron. We are more like the Balkan states, or Yugoslavia before the partition. We are like Europe with the many languages and cultures. We are the Warays, the Bicolanos, the Ilocanos, the Tagalogs, the Kapampangans, the Leytenos, the Cebuanos, the Tausegs, the Igorots, the Ifugaos, etc. We were taught in school that there were many dialects in the Philippines. We now know that this is not true. What we have are many distinct languages and many cultures that went with those languages.
By giving each sub-group in the Philippines its own state, aided by an umbrella organization known as the Katipunan ng Mga Malayang Bansa, which will function similarly to the European Union with its own version of Japan's MITI, order can be restored from the resultant initial chaos.
Think about the promise of a Philippines without the institution of the Presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives. Think of deliverance from the permanent nightmare of dysfunctional national government institutions. Supreme Court nightmare? Gone. Office of the Ombudsman sleep apnea? Gone. Corrupt army and PNP bosses? Gone. A national Customs and BIR? Gone.
That promise, alone, should cause the Filipinos to stampede towards the vision of a Katipunan ng Mga Malayang Bansa.
Cesar
From Francis Egenias, Esq.
ReplyDeletedear kababayans,
its true - we cannot compare the Phils to Japan.
Japan had a very very healthy and vibrant nationalism even before the 19th century. Their quick recovery from the ashes of world war 2 is due to their strong sense of being a nation, which had been there for centuries already
the Phils has yet to have a sense of being one nation. up to now, the default mode of Pinoys is to migrate to another country. how can the Phils be a Japan when Pinoys tend to want to be anybody but Filipino
From Aquilino Alcantara:
ReplyDeletewell chay ...
it definitely has to do with our past ... how we were brought up so to speak by the 'invaders' ... people are all trying to do the best they can in changing this 'trait' ... however way they can ... we wish all the best in their intentions ... our people really need it ...
how does one move from our present structure of govt to what lynn was suggesting ...
not sure but didnt we try to start from a smaller unit such as the barangay and move up from it? ... not sure how successful that was ... it was meant to make the smallest unit of 'govt' a part of the bigger govt? ... it seems to have been made in name only and not much muscle ... it was still overpowered by the higher units of govt ... the malakas still prevailed ...
boy
Boy,
ReplyDeleteIn the current national debate on what's next for the Philippines, one of the suggestions is to federalize the Philippines by creating states out of the various regions. The Manila metropolitan region will become one state, the Ilocos Region another, the Bicol region still another, and so on.
The change would be done through a constitutional convention that proponents like President Gloria would like to see install a parliamentary system of government.
What Lynn is suggesting and what I am seconding is that the states that shall be created should be independent states made up of the current provinces. Not quite the 80 states that Louie thought we were suggesting, but perhaps 50+ states only because some provinces, such as Batanes, will probably not be able to function as independent states. Such small non-viable provinces would be absorbed by bigger neighbors.
As much as possible, the neighboring provinces that speak the same language will be grouped together to form one state. This probably means that my initial estimate of 50+ states is way too many. We may end up with 20 to 30 independent states linked together by a weak central government similar to the European Union and the first United States of America government, which was a mere confederation and not a federation of states.
Cesar