Pinoys happy: Pacman, the furious boxer, is back

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos welcomed what they felt was a return to devastating form for boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.

Pacman battered Brandon Rios with his rapid-fire punches over 12 rounds and flashed improved boxing skills to romp off with the one-sided victory in Macau, signaling his comeback from that harrowing knockout he suffered at the hands of archrival Juan Manuel Marquez.

“Masaya kami kasi nakabawi na si Pacquiao sa sunod-sunod na pagkatalo.” said Efren B.Cruz of Binakayan, Cavite, referring to that numbing setback to Marquez and previously, a questionable decision to Timothy Bradley, both in 2012.

“Bumalik ang bangis ni Pacquiao. Pero ang maganda nun, maingat din siya na masingitan, di tulad nung nangyari laban kay Marquez. (The fierce Pacquiao that we all loved is back. But the good thing is, he’s aggressive yet not as careless as he was in the fight against Marquez),” Cruz added.

Lawyer Edward Pascua somehow felt he was watching a Pacquiao training session.

“Tama yung sinabi ni Roach, human punching bag si Rios (Roach was correct, Rios became a human punching bag for Pacquiao),” he said.

Judges’ scorecard and stats from Compubox clearly showed how the fight at Cotai Arena became an all-Pacquiao show. Michael Pernick gave all 12 rounds to the Pinoy superstar, 120-108, while Lisa Giampi (119-109) and Manfred Kuchler (118-110) saw Pacquaio winning in 11 and 10 rounds, respectively. Pacquiao landed a staggering 281 of 790 punches (36 percent) against Rios’ 138 of 502 (27 percent).

“Kinatay sa Cotai si Rios (Rios was massacred at Cotai),” said Archival Anzures, an OFW in Saudi Arabia who monitored the fight via Internet.

This victory just goes to show how great Pacquiao can be if fully prepared, said Arvin Karl Magtibay, a diehard Pacquiao and Barangay Ginebra fan.

“Maganda ang kilos ni MP dahil focused sa training. Matibay lang talaga si Rios kaya hindi bumagsak (Pacquiao fought well and this was due to a focused training camp. Rios was just sturdy and he wasn’t able to knock him out),” he said.

Pinoys expressed belief this Pacquiao triumph is timely considering the spate of disasters the country encountered lately.

“Na-Yolanda tayo, na-lindol, na-Napoles. Salamat kay Pacquiao, binigyan nya ng kasiyahan at pride ang mga Pilipino, lalo na yung biktima ng kalamidad (We’ve been hit by super typhoon Yolanda, earthquake, Napoles-pork barrel scam and thankfully, we have Pacquaio winning to make us happy and proud),” said Libracion Parcon of Iloilo.

“Pacquiao, please share your blessing to Yolanda victims,” appealed Anzures.

After tending to Yolanda victims as promised by the 34-year-old Pacquiao himself, Pac-fans want to see him back in the ring.

“Marquez uli para bumawi. O Mayweather na (Fight Marquez again and avenge that knockout loss. Or take on Floyd Mayweather, Jr),” said security guard Bogart Serrano.