Being a celebrity can really draw a lot of attention to you from all fronts. For Manny Pacquiao, this comes in good and bad light.
Great to hear that Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya came out settling their differences over Manny Pacquiao's contract. I guess prolonging the controversy makes a great number of parties in a disadvantage and have to start seeing things from a very practical and profitable point of view. This includes boxers in De La Hoya's camp who are more than anxious to get a crack at fighting Manny Pacquiao and earn big bucks like in the case of Marco Antonio Barrera who is contemplating of retirement if he won't be able to fight Pacquiao soon. As a result, the fight between Barrera and Pacquiao is finally on! If Pacquiao performs well in his next fight, he might become Ring Magazine's number 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
Pacquiao was nominated by ESPN for Best Fighter in its annual ESPY awards along with Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather, Randy Couture and Quinton Jackson.
In his column Ronnie Nathanielsz shared his observation as to how Filipinos evaluate a fighter's worthiness in terms of being the country's top sportsman. He mentioned that the human dimension comes in as a great factor. How they handled themselves and use their glory for better good of themselves and the people around them. I wonder if the same can be told with the way we select our future leaders. Perhaps that is why some of those in power, who by qualifications are unfit but by human dimension are worthy eventually wins.
Philippine boxing is indeed more exciting than ever because of Manny Pacquiao. It will be for many years to come as the boxer does not hesitate in providing cash incentives to boxing players eager to start a career in this field.
