MICHAEL MARLEY'S PHILIPPINE DIARY, PART 8:
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—There is one Pacquiao that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will never beat.
Her name is Aling Dionesia Pacquiao, better know nationally as “Pacmom” and as Mother's Day approaches next Sunday, her dutiful son is paying more than lip service to her greatest desire.
“Pacmom”has continually expressed her fervent wish that her healthy and wealthy son, the proud father of four of her beloved grandchildren, pack it in immediately.
If his mother's directive is adhered to, then there will be no Mayweather-Pacquaio bout, no Antonio Margarito-Pacquiao fight or any kind of Pacman match looming ahead.
It is the mother's Number 1 priority, and it has long been, that Megamanny quit boxing before the game takes a physical and mental toll that it has unflinchingly extracted from so many before him.
I'm not saying Pacman will retire and send promoter Bob Arum (landing here in steamy Gensan on Thursday, I am told, for the Congressional campaign final days) and others who feed at the Pacman trough into paroxysms of anguish and grief.
What I am saying is that—as Pacman told me and some Filipino reporters in separate conversations Saturday night just before he took the stage for massive rally attended by 15,000 electoral supporters—is that his Mom's publicly expressed retirement talk weighs quite heavily on his mind.
It's an unresolved issue, a chronic but unresolved issue. This evalution poured from Manny's own lips even in the midst of the political excitement surrounding he and presidential hopeful and ally Manny Villar.
“My mother has never changed on this,” Pacquiao said. “She really wants me to retire now. We will have to talk and have further discussion about this, I know.”
Pacman said he would defer his sitdown session with Pacmom until right after the May 10 national elections are finished.
But, with Aling (a term of respect) clearly playing like a broken record on the my son must quit topic, some family reckoning must be achieved before Uncle Bob can start digging in with plans for another fight, be it against Mayweather or the stronger-chinned Mickey Mouse.
The most dangerous Pacquiao is not Manny.
The most powerful Pacquiao is not Manny.
The durian fruit, as we say here in South Cotobato, does not fall from the tree.
Meaning that the son, Manny, is reverential when it comes to what his maternal unit desires.
This is no baloney, no bluff, and is far removed from blood testing quibbling.
If Pacmom has her way, Pacquiao's boxing career is already over and Joshua Clottey, noted pacfist from Ghana, has the “honor” of being his last ring victim.
Today's Mother Day shopping tip for Uncle Bob: Perhaps, wink, wink, a generous offering should be in order.
I hear they have red roses on sale across the street rom my hotel her, my friend.
Again,I'm not saying that there will be no showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
But right now the biggest fight blocker is Pacmom and her opposition to her son fighting anybody should not be underrated.
I close with the insight of intrepid Pacman watcher, Hammering Hermengildo Rivera, the ubiquitous Pinoy who operates in both the boxing and political orbits.
“Her influence is very palpable and for Manny to go against the mother's wishes is like swimming against a tsunami. The maternal influence is strong in all Filipinos and Manny is no exception to this rule.”
Let's see how this plays out.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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