EDITORIAL - Pacquiao not as hot anymore

In case you have not noticed it yet, the upcoming fight on November 24 in Macau between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios has generated less interest in the media, and by extension the public. Previously, there would have been no less than three Pacquiao stories on every newspaper this close to the fight date.

And in almost all of those stories, especially those written by the traditionally biased Philippine sports media, it would seem as if it was all over but the shouting. The way the normally biased Philippine media would write their Pacquiao stories, it was always as if all his opponents were armless.

Of course we all know what happened to change all that. At the most improbable moment in either boxer's career, Juan Manuel Marquez, cut bruised and beaten, unleashed a punched at the last second, yes the very last second of the sixth round, and knocked Pacquiao senseless.

It was so bad most people thought Pacquiao was dead even before he hit the deck. But what made it worse was the fact that Pacquiao was winning. Had he stayed back for even just a second, the round would have been over and judging by the shape Marquez was in, it probably would have been he who stood to get knocked out.

But that was not the case, of course. And it was not the case because of what happened in the ring that fateful night. It was not the case because Pacquiao himself set in motion the circumstances whose eventual confluence that night made sure he was rudely awakened. But first he had to be rudely put to sleep.

Pacquiao set the circumstances in motion by fighting the fight he didn't have to fight. Except for his hubris, Marquez has truly nothing against Pacquiao. In all their three previous fights, he won not one. In a word, Pacquiao had nothing to prove.

Unfortunately for Pacquiao, he hears only those who have vested interests in keeping him busy fighting. There was big money in every Pacquiao fight and everybody was trying to cash in. Even the biased Philippine media was cashing in on those fights. Why else would three Pacquiao stories be on the same page daily?

For all his wealth and fame, Pacquiao lacked the foresight to know when to stop while he was ahead. He entered boxing to escape poverty. But when he reached the point where he no longer needed boxing to eat, he became greedy. And he became stupid. The Marquez fight was stupid.

And now he is clutching at straws with Rios? Who is Rios? Again, Pacquiao is being mesmerized by the sweet talk that a convincing win over Rios would catapult him back to his previous status. What a jerk if he believes that. Rios is nothing. As he grapples with the past, others like Mayweather and Bradley have moved on.