D-Day is coming

CEBU, Philippines - Nine days from now Philippine time, one member of Congress will literally fight his way to victory.  The fight will definitely be bruising and chances are high that it could also be bloody.  For several million dollar reasons, Manny Pacquiao, also moonlighting as a congressman aside from several other hobbies, will be fighting for the third time against Timothy Bradley for the vacant WBO welterweight title.  It will be at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, US of A.

The Pacman, at 37-year-old has slowed down a bit but he still has those killer combination punches.  Even then, there really is nothing else left to prove for this fight.  Winning titles in eight different weight divisions are stuff of boxing legends and most definitely, Manny is among the demigods of this contact sport, the first and only in boxing history as an octuple champion. 

Weeks before this bout, Manny had been battling several issues related to another fight – a senatorial fight.  There was that ill-advised comment directed to the LGBT community where he saw his survey rankings drop out of the magic 12.  The latest survey says that Manny has rebounded and is back on the top 10 list of winnable senatoriables and from the way things are going, the only thing missing is the oath taking, no matter the controversy. 

Another issue was the perceived disadvantage to other senatorial aspirants the live telecast of Manny’s fight.  Some quarters were protesting the airing of the bout citing undue advantage on Manny’s part and were asking the Commission on Elections to postpone or reschedule the fight after the May 9 national elections.

COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista a few days ago declared that the commission had unanimously decided to let the fight go on as scheduled since there never was a formal complaint filed in their office.  In a way, the decision gives the opposing party a venue to send their grievance to the poll body as they still have a week to file their protest. 

A candidate for senator is pushing for the non-airing of the fight citing unfavorable results to his senatorial aspirations.  The live telecast will give Pacman free airtime and advertisement, his camp argued, giving “... massive exposure in the middle of the campaign.” Of course it does and with Manny’s popularity and stature, it would be an anomaly not to air his fight, no matter how irrelevant.  And for all he’s worth, the aggrieved party is way behind in the surveys.  Him among the top 12 is like seeing Tomas and Mike in a tight and loving embrace.

The COMELEC decision drew flak stating that it is “… a violation of its own rules.”  Yeah, right.  Since time immemorial, candidates had been wilfully and happily skirting election rules and regulations which had loop holes bigger than a lake.  As early as a year before elections, candidates, both local and national, had been gift-wrapping the 7,101 islands with tarpaulins bigger than blankets printed with their images and slogans.  How many of these people were penalized, especially the big-time politicos? 

Let the Pacquiao-Bradley 3 commence.  It could be a tactical fight or a boring fight.  Whatever and however, both boxers will be earning huge amounts of money.  And talking about earnings…

Tim Bradley will be receiving a reported $6 million flat rate for this fight.  The final purse money depends on the number of pay-per-view sales this 3rd instalment will generate.  If it reaches the 600,000 mark, Bradley will have an undisclosed percentage on the total sales.  Below 600K buys, he will only receive his guaranteed prize money.

The Republican and Democratic primaries is generating more interest than this fight.  There is a longing anticipation of a Donald Trump – Hillary Clinton US presidential battle.  Coupled with the bad publicity from Pacman’s LGBT tirade, the interest further died down.  Bradley, aside from training, will also be doing some promotion and marketing to sell PPVs.  If the PPV buys don’t reach 600K, Bradley is expected to lose up to $5 million in earnings. (FREEMAN)