He has renamed it the MP Gym after his initials. However, I believe Pacquiao needs to have more boxing gyms where he can train on with ease. If I say with ease, he should be able to train in a place not far from Congress. As the newly minted congressman of Sarangani Province, Pacquiao has to attend Congress sessions from Monday to Wednesday.
As a diligent lawmaker, Pacquiao has vowed to attend the sessions without fail three times a week. I salute him for that. He is determined to fulfil his Congress duties but then, here comes Speaker Belmonte, suddenly acting the kontrabida.
Know why?
When Pacquiao suggested that he train within the Congress grounds in Brgy. Batasan Hills in Q.C., Belmonte immediately torpedoed this idea down.
“No, Pacquiao can’t do that,” said Belmonte, acting like a dictator a la Hitler and Marcos combined. “I don’t want him to disrupt Congress proceedings while he is doing his thing at the gym.”
How can one training for a fight disrupt Congress proceedings? Crazy. Stupid, if not downright high-handedness on the part of Belmonte.
Look, are our congressmen that unmindful, unthinking bunch of childish brat-pack as to gawk at Pacquiao all day and waste time just standing there while our national hero does his thing?
If you ask me, Pacquiao training in the ring, really, is a more nationalistic act than Belmonte and his ilk unleashing their monotonous antics at Congress where, actually, all they merely love to do is fool us with their fractured English while flaunting their branded suits subsidized mainly by our paying public before a nationwide audience aired live on TV, mostly.
What Belmonte, whose word is virtual law at Congress, bungled was a nationalistic act of putting up a boxing gym beside the basketball court at Congress. Only the brainless can do such a thing.
Had he heeded Pacquiao’s wish, Belmonte could have even named it the Pacman Boxing Gym, and, after having done that, might have even enshrined himself part of Pacquiao lore.
In short, for all his short-mindedness and insensitivity, Belmonte missed his chance at making history.
Under his watch, the most edifying edifice could have been erected at the Congress grounds—more revered than all his bills (including the un-passed) at Congress.
Meanwhile, come to think of it. Why not Pacquiao finally build his own and name it the Pacquiao Boxing Gym? Freddie Roach has his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, California.
The late, lamented Gabriel “Flash” Elorde has his Elorde Boxing Gym through his wife, Laura. It has branches all over Metro Manila.
So, why not a Pacquiao Boxing Gym? One Pacquiao Boxing Gym in Manila, and then build branches in Cebu, in Davao, in Baguio, in Bacolod, in Cagayan de Oro, in Sarangani, or even in his hometown GenSan.
Pacquiao usually trains at the Wild Card Gym when in LA. Presently, he trains at the Elorde Boxing Gym for the Margarito fight at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He has picked the Elorde Boxing Gym branch in Quezon City, not far from Congress, because he says he doesn’t want to absent himself from the Congress sessions.
As I write this, he will motor up shortly to Baguio for the majority of his training for the Margarito bout set November 14 (Manila Time).
Although the clash is at a catch weight 151 lb, Pacquiao and Margarito will slug it out for the WBC super welterweight crown (154 lb).
Nowadays, catch weight fights have become a dozen a dime, a worldwide fad after Pacquiao crashed into the scene ballooning from one weight to another a la Incredible Hulk.
No fighter since beak-busting was invented has come closer to what Pacquiao has achieved: From a skinny 106-pounder in 1996, he has expanded to a full welterweight at 147 and became the only boxer ever to capture seven world titles in seven different divisions.
A win over Margarito – which isn’t far-fetched as, this early, Pacquiao has been installed the 5-1 favorite – would make Manny an eight-time world champion. Can anybody catch him at where he is right now? I don’t know of anyone today who could even come close to surpassing that, or equalling the feat. Not in this millennium, I guess.
Anyway, about that gym Pacquiao needs to train on each time he has a fight coming.
To one as wealthy as Pacquiao, Pacquiao might even build not just one but two, three or even four gyms in Metro Manila. Better yet, as I said, he should put up at least one each in the major cities in the country.
And, if he’s through doing that, he’d surely help reduce the nation’s unemployment problem. Retired boxers could work as his gym trainers. Many of our youths, the majority forced to drop out of school due to poverty, can be employed as utility hands, etc.
This brilliant idea isn’t mine but Ricky Sadiwa’s. Ricky is an ardent Pacman fan who does gym boxing regularly for exercise. Ricky, an IT expert, has considerably trimmed down his frame since he picked up the sport some weeks back.
For Reli de Leon, though, the expert marketing man, a Freddie Roach Boxing Gym in the country might be a better idea. “It sure would even appeal to the AB crowd, Al,” he said. I believe him.
There is actually a Freddie Roach Boxing Camp in Q.C. It isn’t picking up that much, though, as it lacks marketing and promotion.
Meanwhile, for his idea, Ricky, if ever Pacquiao finally decides to put up a Pacquiao Boxing Gym, has one request: “If I put up my own Pacquiao Boxing Gym, I pray that Mr. Pacquiao waives the franchise fee?” I guess that’s not too much to ask of Pacman. I know that his generosity is legend. That’d be just a drop in the bucket for the certified billionaire. I promised Ricky that Pacquiao will be present to cut the ribbon during the inaugural opening of his brainchild. Everybody’s invited. Food isn’t free but the drinks are. They’re on me.
****
FROM MISSASSAUGA. My brother, Kuya Pepito, a resident of Missassauga since 1988, is enjoying his vacation in Manila since Sept. 21. I am his driver but, more importantly, his drinking buddy. And, like when my bosom friends, Vancouver-based Rey Fortaleza and San Francisco-based Kuya Manuel Panoringan are in town, my Kuya Pepito is also my golf mate as we play almost two times a week. Fore!
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