This is the third time in a row that I watch a Manny Pacquiao fight in an audio-visual venue while the rest of his other fights, on TV. The first was with David Diaz at Galleria cinema and the second with Oscar De La Hoya  at the Silver City in Tiendesitas.

“Devastating. Vicious. Clinical. Crunching. Horrible, almost. Hatton simply crumpled.”
- The Telegraph

On all of this  fights I was lucky I got complimentary tickets from a high school classmate who brokered in business with Solar Sports on the media presentation.

I got the ticket for the Pacquiao-Hatton fight early last Friday when I personally picked it up at their house in Mandaluyong. I was impressed with the way Manny has accelerated in his boxing career of course with the help of his coach, Freddie Roach.

There’s no question who is #1 pound for pound king of the ring. Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) destroyed IBO light welterweight Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KOs) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pacquiao was 138; Hatton was 140 at their weigh-in, both were 30 years old and as the announcer said both had secured their seats in boxing history. Hatton came out aggressively but was dropped by twice by Pacquiao in round one. In round two, Pacquiao dropped Hatton for the count with a left to the chin. Time was 2:59. Hatton was down for several minutes. It was an unprecedented victory for Manny. Pacquiao  earned $12 million for the fight, while Hatton was paid $8 million.

Star-studded

Martin Nievera, wearing a T-shirt designed by the late rapper Francis Magalona, broke tradition by being the first male to sing the Philippine National Anthem in a Pacquiao bout.

He was followed by pop icon Sir Tom Jones, who sang “God Save the Queen,” the British National Anthem, and Fil-Am Jasmine Villegas, who sang the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the US National Anthem.

The bout was witnessed by a star-studded audience that included Oscar de la Hoya, Jack Nicholson, Sugar Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, rapper Jay-Z, and Mariah Carey.

On the undercard, Mexico’s Humberto Soto knocked Benoit Gaudet of Canada down early in the ninth round and then stopped him with a flurry of punches to retain his WBC super featherweight title.

It was the second defense of the title for Soto, who improved to 48-7-2 with 31 knockouts, while Gaudet fell to 20-2 after his first attempt at a major belt.  -GMANews.TV

I was apprehensive that the phenomenon that was Manny Pacquiao would be held at bay. The crowd in Araneta Coliseum was ecstatic. I was seated next to Toto, my gym buddy as we joined in the euphoria on every punch that hits Hatton. Evidently on the knock out round, Manny delivered his southpaw power with one second remaining of the second round.  Ricky Hatton was on his fighting stance at the beginning but was defenseless and got no chance against Pacquiao, whose punches came straight down the middle and landed with increasing frequency as the fight went on.

Memorabilia

TicketNet, 3 May 2009

I said a little prayer while I was watching Manny fight his fight that will land him in the pages of world history books as a Filipino icon and a world class at that. As this post goes through the net, at this very moment he is still rewriting history and making it work in his favor. I walked out of the coliseum with my friend Toto, relieved and equally rewarded as if I was in the ring  myself fighting against Hatton. Manny did it one more time.

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