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For all of Manny Pacquiao’s 55 professional fights, I have only seen him live once, in 2006, when he tattooed the face of Oscar Larios over 12 rounds at the Araneta Coliseum. The bleachers of the Araneta Coliseum were barely half-full because of the prohibitive ticket prices. I was told some people were allowed in midway to the main event for free, which still did not fill the cavernous 20,000-seater 40-year-old coliseum. The adrenalin rush of watching championship fights live and at the ringside to boot is inexplicable. The ringside seat allows you to watch the nuances and every detail of the fight that could turn you a boxing judge overnight. You can tell which fighter is hurt in furious exchanges. You can smell the spray of sweat each time one of the fighters takes a punch in the head. You can smell the blood gushing out of their cuts and you can hear the thud of a body falling on the canvass. But sometimes it is over before you realize what happened. On the flipside, that front row seat also deprives you of being able to review the fight sequence except those slow-motion highlights shown during in-between-round breaks. That is why seconds and coaches are always on their toes watching the fight develop. Not once or twice have I approached the corner of one of my trainer-coach friends to point out how his ward could effectively deliver the punches needed to win. Such is boxing that you sometimes duck your head and flail your arms every time and simultaneously with your favorite boxer when he cocks and unloads his punches as if you were that boxer in the ring. You become so animated that sometimes you forget you are out there to watch and not become a participant. Just imagine how hard it is for judges to be removed from their biases given that the boxers they will judge in a fight – the likes of Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr – have already made an imprint on their consciousness. Which leaves us the question: Is the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight worth the wait and worth seeing live? No true-blooded lover of the sport will want to miss this kind of event. It happens once or twice in a generation of boxing fans. When this fight is being compared to the first Ali-Frazier fight, to the Leonard-Hagler encounter, to the Holyfied-Tyson saga, you bet this will be a smash hit. For one, since the mythical pound for pound king title became popular and widely acknowledged, no top two fighters in the list fighting in the same weight division have fought each other. No immediate past and present kings of the pound for pound title have also actually met each other, either. At stake is a page, if not a whole chapter, of boxing history. Both future boxing Hall of Famers will also fight for what probably will be the biggest grossing boxing bout of all time. And for every Filipino, this could potentially be the last time they will see Manny Pacquiao fight. Win this one and Manny will take home as much as US$50 million in gross pay, more than a hundred times enough to live in a lifetime of comfort, his children included. I have missed several of Manny's fights because the US embassy refuses to grant me a visa. I hope this time the consular officers in Manila will be compassionate enough to consider that this is one last chance to be at the ringside of history.
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you must show your ticket first so they will grant you visa got me so they wont think bad about you gonna work there, that you will surely watching fight an nothing else
i hope hindi ka mag TNT... hehehe
Even if we will not make it as a compulsory to all boxing fans but we understand how excited this fight between MP & FMJ as we all now this is the last man standing under the radar of Team Pacman. So there's no need to say a need to show. But can you afford d to buy a PPV $75? a big question. Of todays economic crisis? anyway no matter what happened fans all over the world won't mis to see it live. That's the significant of this fight both are P4P king. This is the clash of the titans year. 2010.
$75 PPV is not a big deal if 2 or more people will share the cost. You people always wanted free all the time. If you really a fan of manny or money, you should spent some money for it. If you dont, just shut up and wait for free telecast from gma or abs-cbn.
If the consular officer is an American, and if he or she will ask you a typical question..So, what are you going to do in America..tell him/her..I wanna see Mannys last victory before he retires..it was just my only wish to see him for his last fight. Mr. Espejo don't worry of were you favored to win..because true Americans like honest people..and I'm sure true Americans does'nt like Floyds dishonesty during the past anyway..so I'm positive you will be granted.
Mr. Espejo..tell me the result, and will talk about it next time.
Yes, thanks for the suggestion ganiRends. ch15rles, no airlines in the Philippines would issue you ticket unless you have a visa.
Yes, thanks for the suggestion ganiRends. ch15rles, no airlines in the Philippines would issue you ticket unless you have a visa.
Another thing that would be I guess is a strong proof is that you have a kind of a "show money"..which I'm sure you do..and also if their's a posibility that you can have a kind of an invitation towards the fight, I mean if and only if you can inquire this then it's a good guarantee for an approval also. But to me personally, just try if ever you can't have this things..I'm sure, if they'll grant it, they will anyway no matter what.
I just hope that you will not end up being interviewed by african american consul because it will be a no contest decision on your visa application!
Is boxing as big in the Philippines as the popularity of this subject on AC suggests? Where else in Asia is it followed so closely?
Boxing has always been a popular sports in the Philippines and some parts of Asia like Thailand, Korea and Japan. The sports is enjoying an unprecedented renaissance in the Philippines following Manny's zooming ascent to stardom via the conquest of Oscar dela Hoya and before that the whirlwind fashion with which Manny picked up his victims in the ring. When Manny fights, the streets in the Philippines are virtual ghost towns. Such is the current popularity of Manny and boxing that in the last four years, deaths have been recorded each time he fights either by cardiac arrest or bar room partisan disputes. I don't have the figures how many in AC is also following Manny and boxing like Filipinos do. I would love to have those figures too.
Im a pacfan even before the first barrera fight. I would have purchased a ticket, the cheapest available if the fight was promoted properly in the Philippines. I guess the promoters were just leveraging on pacman's popularity to sell ticket. |
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