Pacquiao and Barrera fight bout is on!

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.

Dela Hoya, Arum, Elections Hounds Manny Pacquiao

The Manny Pacquiao vs. World Boxing Council featherweight champion In Jin Chi of Korea fight won't be televised through HBO as Golden Boy Promotions Oscar Dela Hoya sent the network a legal letter threatening them for possible inclusion in a lawsuit should the pursue any partnership.

It seems that the boxing fight will be staged in the US rather than Macau as there is no suitable venue where the fight can be done. In addition, both boxers popularity in China is uncertain that it won't be commercially feasible to set the fight there. These concerns made Pacquiao uneasy in deciding whether to pursue the fight or not.

Should it proceed, Rod Nazario is confident that the fight won't go beyond the 7th round favoring the Philippines boxing champion. Nazario is the former business manager of Manny Pacquiao.

With the election fever setting in the Philippines today, Pacquiao recently applied for the gun ban exemption claiming that his family is in danger amidst kidnapping threats. Popularity and wealth really has its price as the boxing champ gets a Z status.

Manny Pacquiao's dilemma almost over?

Manny Pacquiao's year-ender and new year starter shows how the pressure, overwhelming attention, and confusion catched up with him. He was recently confined for stomach problems and it's good that doctors gave him a thumbs up signal for his overall health.

Talks about his next fight with WBC featherweight champ In Jin Chi in Macau, scheduled for April 28, is almost final according to Bob Arum. That is assuming they'll be able to talk soon. It is great to see Manny once again fight an Asian fighter. It tends to get tiring seeing the Mexican fighters too much, as if they are all ganging up on him. (or the other way around?)

Manny Pacquiao's recent fight exposure and pressures is taking a lot on him to the point that some boxing trainer is predicting that his skill and stamina will wind down in 2 years. For now, he is seen as boxing's savior.