Pacquiao: Agile even if aging, this athlete aspires for the apex

MANILA, Philippines (The Filipino Connection) — Facebook Watch swarms its users with videos past and present. If you’re on a Philippine IP address and you just glance at boxing videos then and now, a familiar global figure greets you.

Facebook’s algorithms brought you to Manny Pacquiao. He’s your daily filter bubble.

Pacquiao’s videos make you scroll and ride his 25-year time warp — from a skinny teenager with raw skills but booming punches as a flyweight, to a refined quadragenarian who can still drub today’s best welterweights.

On the 19th year that the Philippines’ fighting pride has made his country enjoy global boxing’s spotlight, Pacquiao continues to thrive in the moment. He still hooks Filipino and global fans’ interest at him, and still defies the limits of the human anatomy.

Never mind that supposed opponent Errol Spence Jr. had to back out two weeks ago due to an eye injury, needing an operation. Never mind that the new contender, Yordenis Ugas, stepped in to be part of Pacquiao’s list of opponents.

Do mind, just in case, if today’s best welterweight Terence Crawford jumps over the barriers of being in another promoter’s stable and give the “Pacman” an eye-popping match (that’s supposedly between Pacquiao and Spence, today).

Whether Filipinos, both as boxing fans and as voters, love or hate the 42-year-old Pacquiao, they’ll be itching to watch the “Pacman” slugging it out once more. Filipinos may not even mind if Pacquiao loses: Age has set in.

The planet gets interested at Pacquiao punching his way to a pedestal only a few pugilists can reach: the apex of a sport’s annals.

The pint-sized Filipino welterweight as the world’s best boxer pound-for-pound. Ever.

ESPN’s resident boxing analyst Max Kellerman brought up that argument. Sixteen world title heists from flyweight (1998 versus Thailand’s Chatchai Sasakul, WBC) to “super” welterweight (2019 versus American Keith Thurman, WBA) provide cases in point.

Pacquiao tore down weight divisions — eight of them — ferociously.

Sure, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez belong to the very few who have cracked Pacquiao’s offensive codes. But mixed martial arts analysts left and right would say this: Pacquiao’s a rare boxing breed.

Speed plus power plus footwork plus multiple-angled punches and ring movements plus durability. During Pacquiao’s prime, from his mid-20s to his mid-30s, the boxing world marveled at this Filipino’s post-modern boxing repertoire that became a science itself.

As Pacquiao aged, many started doubting him. His opponents since his 2015 loss to Mayweather — Timothy Bradley (third meet-up), Jessie Vargas, Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner and Thurman — were all younger, on the rise, but all tagged as “weaker” than Crawford or Spence.

The aging Pacquiao drubbed them all. His ages-old brand of boxing science still rings bells.

One or two more remain for the “Pacman”: Spence or Crawford, or both. Pacquiao’s entering 43 in December.

Whatever’s the outcome between Pacquiao versus Ugas, boxing’s universe of fans still tabbed pay-per-view buys. A politically-divided Philippines will return to the Pacquiao “habit” —being still and watching Pacman’s savagery — even if SARS-CoV-2’s Delta variant currently beleaguers Filipinos’ lives.

Even for just a day, the Filipino politics that Pacquiao now finds himself embroiled in its nastiest facets takes a backseat.

Even for just a day, interested boxing fans worldwide (no matter how few or many) will watch how Manny Pacquiao brandishes his boxing science that fits his being 42 years old.

Because a win versus Yordenis Ugas sets up Mannay Pacquiao to try — for one last time — a fitting finale to a storied career: the apex of boxing, with age being just a number.

Spence or Crawford better get ready.

The Filipino Connection is a regional partner of Philstar.com.