‘Pacquiao Is The Greatest’

“Pacquiao is the greatest”, Davao del Sur provincial board member Nonito Llanos III exclaims as I asked him on his reaction on the just concluded Pacquiao-Algieri bout aboard our Cebu Pacific flight from Hongkong to Cebu (5J241) last Wednesday.

Llanos, 41, the son of legendary Mayor Nonito Llanos of Digos, who is also the chairman of the Committee on Youth Affairs of the Provincial Board Member’s League of the Philippines said that while Ali is the greatest of his era, Pacquiao is the greatest of all times describing the Filipino boxing icon as a complete package boxer, an epitome of character, humility, athletic ability and deep faith in God.

Llanos said Pacquiao’s attributes are exceptional that no boxer in recent history has attained.

“He is a complete package, humility, character, athletic ability and faith sa Ginoo,” Llanos said, citing, Pacquiao’s soft spot for the poor having risen from poverty himself, continued humbleness despite acquiring global celebrity status, athletic ability as excellent boxer and deep faith in God in being a Catholic and becoming a renewed Christian later.

Aside from calling Pacquiao “The Greatest”, Llanos said that the performance of Pacquiao against Algieri meant that the world boxing champion has already fully recovered from his past debacles notably that of the shocking knock-out loss from Juan Manuel-Marquez in 2012.

“He is back, the old Manny Pacquiao is back” Llanos stated, who revealed that because of his earlier booking of a family vacation in Hongkong, he opted not to watch the Pacquiao-Algieri fight in Macau but watched it on “Youtube” where he said it was also exciting because of the slow motion replay clips where one could see how Pacquiao and Algieri exchanged blows, including how the knockdowns happened.

Llanos then went on to defend the observation of some that the Pacquiao-Algieri fight was a “mismatch” emphasizing that Algieri was “no patsy” reminding critics that the American boxer is the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight champion after winning against Ruslan Provodnikov earlier this year.

“He (Algieri) was tough, he survived Manny. He was young and also a champion, remember, if it was somebody else, maybe that guy was knocked down because of Manny’s punching power.”

For the youthful, Ramon Falgui, 22, who flew to Macau and missed his class at the Ateneo de Davao University just to watch the Pacquiao-Algieri fight at ringside inside the Cotai Arena of The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the outcome was “impressive.”

“I was really ecstatic, the several knockdowns that i saw in my own naked eye while inside the Cotai Arena was an experience of a lifetime. I really feel proud to be a Filipino,” Falgui’s comment went, a dual Filipino-American citizen from Missouri but whose roots are from Kiamba, Sarangani and General Santos City.

Ramon who is the nephew of Gensan topnotch lawyer Tomas Falgui said the Pacquiao-Algieri bout for him was unforgettable because he was held for several hours by some immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for his “supposed visa and passport issues” since he failed to brought his Filipino passport.

He arrived at Macau just hours before the bout and his the lack of sleep was somehow compensated by the fight where majority of the crowd are Filipinos.

From a woman spectator, Lydia Pascual, CEO of 3PL Service Provider Phils. Inc., who confessed that she along with her husband, has not missed any Pacquiao fight after wresting a world championship belt from Lehlohonolo Ledwaba (IBF Super Bantamweight) in 2001, she describes Manny as “one of a kind.”

“Hindi kami kilala ni Manny pero kahit saan siya lumalaban nanonood kami, gumagastos ng sarili, talagang ibang klase siya, one of kind,” Pascual said.

“Nandoon din kami nung matalo si Manny, ganun kami sumu-suporta sa kanya bilang kapwa Pilipino, sana lahat ng kababayan natin, ganoon din, yung iba minamaliit pa siya kesyo ganito daw ang kalaban o ano, huwag sana ganoon, kapareho natin siyang Pilipino, yung panalo nya panalo din natin, ganoon sana dapat tayo. Wala na tayong ibang Manny Pacquiao, talagang natatangi siya,” the Pasig City businesswoman emphatically verbalized.

Instead of the usual victory party however, Team Pacquiao which included a core of special media coverage group from Radyo Alerto in General Santos City, went on to hold a simple “salo-salo” and bible study inside the suite of the WBO welterweight champ where among those who arrived to congratulate him is former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Osmeña who lost to Mayor Michael Rama in his attempt to take back his seat last year, won as congressman in the 2010 elections where he and Pacquiao become close since they sat near each other in sessions.

Pacquiao also stood as the best man of the wedding of Osmeña’s son, Miguel, to the former Bea Villegas in Amlan, Negros Oriental earlier this year.

Top Rank through the endorsement of Pacquiao accredited Radyo Alerto for the special coverage since its core of listeners includes the residents of Sarangani, the constituency of Pacquiao in the Philippine congress.

(Mr. Tonton Antogop, who functions as correspondent/reporter at large in Cebu and the Visayas, incidentally belonged to the coverage team which also had a separate endorsement from MetroCebu News (www.metrocebunews.com) to cover the fight)