SALON

Sunday, Dec 9, 2012 6:00 PM UTC

Pacquiao loss downs spirit of storm-hit Filipinos

By

Topics: From the Wires,

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipino fans were stunned by Manny Pacquiao’s knockout defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez, dampening the spirit of a nation battered by a powerful typhoon that killed more than 600 people in the southern region where the boxing champion lives.

In New Bataan township, which was ravaged by Typhoon Bopha last week, refugees, rescuers and aid workers took a break from a grueling search for bodies and survivors to watch the fight on a big TV screen — only to be disappointed by their hero’s sixth-round knockout.

The fight took place Saturday night in Las Vegas, or Sunday in the Philippines. Town spokesman Marlon Esperanza said hundreds of villagers, most of whom lost their homes to mud- and rock-laden flash floods, packed the local gymnasium used as a temporary shelter. Many had hoped Pacquiao would triumph and share his earnings with the typhoon victims.

“People were really dismayed,” Esperanza told The Associated Press by telephone. “It was like they were hit by another typhoon.”

Elementary math teacher Constancio Olivar said people were cheering for Pacquiao in the sixth round, then fell silent when Marquez landed a shot flush to the jaw of Pacquiao, who fell heavily to the canvas and remained motionless for some time.

“It was like a double blow for me — this disaster and this defeat,” said Olivar, whose house was destroyed in the storm. “We were all crestfallen. Everyone fell silent, stunned. It was like we saw a tsunami.”

In Manila, President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Pacquiao’s defeat “cannot set aside the many honors Manny has given to the Filipino people.”

“Nothing has changed, the Filipino people continue to admire and support Manny,” he said.

Boxing analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz said the defeat could demoralize Filipinos, particularly those in the typhoon-hit areas on the main southern island of Mindanao where Pacquiao is from.

“It’s a double tragedy,” he said. “People were looking at Pacquiao winning to give them some joy, some hope, some satisfaction. It didn’t happen. On top of that, their anguish is further heightened as a result of his loss. … This is like (Bopha) took a U-turn and came back to hit us with a Pacquiao knockout.”

Nathanielsz said Pacquiao, who trained for two months, may not have spent enough time for physical conditioning unlike Marquez, who spent twice as many months preparing for the fight.

“The problem is when you get older, everything else must flow from the basic foundation of strength and conditioning. If you are not in condition, you have a problem,” he said.

At the Baclaran Central Elementary School hall in the Manila suburb of Paranaque, where hundreds watched the fight, government employee Jacqueline Gabriel said she was dismayed by Pacquiao’s performance.

“Pacman is weaker now,” she said, using Pacquiao’s nickname. “He is no longer like what he used to be. … He should retire now.”

But factory worker Charlie Cerillo, 37, said Pacquiao, who is also a congressman, should not retire yet.

“He should not have been a congressman. He should focus on sports and if he wants to be a congressman, he should focus on being a congressman,” he said.

Pacquiao’s mother, Dionisia, said that if it was up to her, she wanted her son to stop boxing.

“I want him to rest now, to relax,” she told DZMM radio. “If he wants to be a politician, let him serve and pour everything into that. … Only God will make him stop.”

More By Oliver Teves.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations