He is not only pound-for-pound king of the world wearing those Cleto Reyes gloves that has sent many best fighters to kiss the canvass but now a man wearing that round hat with tassel and colorful toga, following up the very footsteps achieved by select boxing greats Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Mike Tyson. He now belongs to the elite athletes conferred with Doctor of Humanities (honoris causa) because the supreme athletic ability he has shown in the sport of boxing and most of all because of the unsung charitable works he has done which has not really been covered by glitz and glamour compared to that he has gotten inside the four corners of the boxing ring.And I think when the Pacman clash with Ricky Hatton on May 2, Michael Buffer will maybe have a new line on calling Manny. "In the red corner, wearing a white trunks with flaming trims, Dr. Manny 'The Pacman' Pacquiao".
He can now be called Dr. Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao. Southwestern University of Cebu conferred this doctorate degree last February 18, 2009 after achieving great success comparable to none in Asia by winning titles to four weight divisions and winning three of his battles on three weight divisions with two of these as title fights last year 2008. More than the showing of Pacman’s boxing prowess inside the ring earning him millions of dollars (the only Filipino I think to achieve such monetary reward) is his deep generosity to his fellow Filipinos not only in the Philippines but around the world. His works of service and charity to victims of typhoons and his advocacy to establishing and pushing for the research for the cure of cancer which is one the primary cause of mortality in the country are only some of his silent acts of kindness beyond his being a famous boxer.
During his blossoming career, Pacman’s bisaya English is ridiculed by many. Despite his great success in the world of boxing, many of his fellow kababayans especially those in the upper class still looks at the pound-for-pound king as nothing but powerful fists with no intellect. In a country obsessed with educational achievement as the measure of success and dignity, Pacquiao did not waver and proved to the world that he is a well-rounded person by going back to school and trying to finish his college degree at Notre Dame University. Now, with his doctorate degree (honoris causa) he has nothing to worry about and nothing to be ashamed of. He has nothing to prove to people for he has proven already so many great things through his great deeds.
My only wish is that he will leave that kind of legacy and not meddle with the murky waters of politics mired with corruption and selfishness of the powerful some. Let the laurel leaves sit on your head filled with dignity till the end Manny.
Pictures from philboxing.com.
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2 comments:
but pacquiao has still lots of proving to do, esp. being lulled (and somewhat used) by politicians on being one of them for the 2010 elections.
just box manny
@albert: well, we can never can tell if manny could become a good politician, but i think he should limit himself to administrative positions in the lgu level and not as a lawmaker.
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