Last Sunday, the world witnessed another boxing match of our people’s champ, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao against Jeff Horn. Dubbed as the “Battle of Brisbane,” the boxing match of Horn vs. Pacquiao was for the World Boxing Organization welterweight championship.
Horn defeated Pacquiao after 12 rounds by unanimous decision. Many Pacman fans from around the world were disappointed and found the result controversial. Halfway through the match, Horn head-butted Pacquiao resulting in two bleeding cuts. This affected Pacquiao’s performance in the succeeding rounds.
Horn has a disadvantage in terms of experience and technique, which probably made him resort to playing dirty through head-butting, choking, and elbowing. He showed so much aggression that he came back strong in the 10th round after almost getting defeated in the ninth round.
Pacquiao admitted that Horn was a tough opponent and that he did not expect Horn’s aggressive, to some, controversial, fighting style in the ring.
Pacquiao used his deft movements to avoid Horn’s punches, and delivered a lot of counter-punches to hit Horn with strong shots. Pacquiao showcased his skill and experience in this match, and proved that he is truly a high-level fighter. Though the decision did not turn out to be what most of us expected, Pacquiao respected the judges’ decision and accepted his defeat with grace.
There is a rematch clause in the Pacquiao-Horn fight contract. Pacquiao and Horn expressed their interest in a rematch.
I believe that Manny Pacquiao will always be one of the world’s best fighters of this generation. He remains to be an inspiration to many Filipino athletes. Win or lose, the Filipino people stand behind him. People cried with him in his losses and celebrated victory together. There have been controversial tweets about the Senator post-fight, owing to differing political and religious beliefs. Our personal and individual inclinations notwithstanding, we must recognize that Pacquiao soldiered on, and courageously faced his opponent in the ring, with nothing but love and pride for our country strongly beating in his heart.
He is a warrior and a patriot. I congratulate him for a great fight and wish him a good fight, come rematch. We are all rooting for you, Senator Manny.