Pacquiao's road to redemption: The comeback

FOCUSED. Manny Pacquiao says his only focus right now is winning his November showdown against Brandon Rios. Photo by Adrian Portugal/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – On November 24, one of this generation’s best boxers returns to the ring after a one year hiatus. He will face off with a young, hungry fighter who is trying to make his mark in the sport of boxing.

When Manny Pacquiao puts on his gloves once again against 27-year-old up and coming boxer Brandon Rios in Macau, the whole world will be watching.

Pacquiao, who has been named Fighter of the Decade, is coming off two consecutive losses. The fight is a must-win for the 8-division world champion, who is trying to prove he is still on top of his game.

One is fighting for redemption, while the other knows a win will catapult him to instant stardom. This is Rappler’s coverage of the lead-up to one of the year’s biggest fights, the first of a three-part mini-series that will chronicle Pacquiao’s journey to one of the most important bouts of his life.

BUBUY FERNANDEZ, ASSISTANT TRAINER/ PACQUIAO’S BEST FRIEND: Ang nangyari kasi nung pagdating ng five rounds, sabi ko sa kanya “wag ka sumabay, wag ka lumaro sa laro niya. Laruin mo yung sa laro mo lang at wag ka basta bastang pumasok, ingat ka lagi kasi baka may set-up.” So yun nga nung nakita kong tinamaan, tinamaan niya si Marquez, nakita kong gusto niyang kunin so tumunog yung 10 seconds, pag tunong ng 10 seconds, nung tinamaan niya gusto niyang pasukin kaagad kasi nakita niya groggy na eh, tinamaan ng solid.
(In the 5th round, what happened was I told him, ‘Don’t follow his lead, don’t play his game. Play your own game and don’t just go in. Be careful, this might be a set-up.’ So when I saw that he hit Marquez, I saw that he wanted to finish him off. When the 10 second bell went off, when he hit him, he wanted to get him because he saw Marquez was groggy, the he hit him solid.)

The date was December 8, 2012. Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao was back in the ring. It was his fourth showdown against Mexican archival Juan Manuel Marquez.
3 controversial fights in 8 years. Some blamed his new role as Congressman and his newfound Christian faith as distractions. But Pacquiao says he merely made a mistake.

MANNY PACQUIAO, WORLD CHAMPION BOXER: I don’t think I was distracted on my last fight, kasi kung titignan natin yung stamina ko, condition ko ay 100 percent, makita yung aggressiveness, andun. Ang problema lang talaga ay nangyare any di dapat nangyare yung di natin ginusto na mangyari which is part of boxing.
(I don’t think I was distracted on my last fight. Because if you look at my stamina, my condition, I was 100%. You could see my aggressiveness, it was there. The problem was something that wasn’t supposed to happen, happened but that’s part of boxing.)

The loss clearly affected the national hero. Arriving in Manila, he apologized to Filipinos.

PACQUIAO: Nagsorry ako nun kasi siyempre ang hangad ng pilipino ay mapasaya ko sila at mabigyan ko sila ng karangalan, siyempre di ko ginusto yung nangyare. May mga pagkakataon kasi na hindi lahat ng panahon eh madadala natin yung honor. Yung panahon na yun nangyare yung di natin inaasahan and I’m very sorry for them.
(I said sorry because of course it’s the hope of the Filipino that I make them happy and that I give them honor, and of course I didn’t like what happened. There are times when you can’t bring honor all the time. At that time what we didn’t expect to happen, happened and I’m very sorry for them.)

A knockout is a lot to get over for a fighter. It’s not forgotten, but the fight is no longer spoken of in Pacquiao’s training camp today.

FREDDIE ROACH, HEAD COACH: We don’t talk about it too much but we do talk about the mistake of being too anxious and that cost him. we don’t actually talk too much about it but we refer back to it every once in a while of course.

PACQUIAO: Ah, hindi na, kung isipin mo na naalala ko. Pero tapos na yun eh, kung baga sa ano I have to move on for another fight, kinalimutan ko na yun part of boxing yan eh. HIndi lang naman first time na nangyari sa boxing career ko yun, maraming beses na so hindi yun bago sa amin.
(I don’t think about it anymore. It’s over, I have to move on to my next fight. I’ve let it go, it’s part of boxing. It wasn’t the first time it happened to my boxing career, it’s happened before so it’s nothing new.)

ROACH: It’s part of our lives, its part of our career also.

In this camp, past is past. All eyes are on the future. Is the fight against 27-year-old Brandon Rios his comeback fight?

FERNANDEZ: Brandon Rios is parang baka eh. Talagang yung style niya kasi, pumapasok siya so fighter. Hindi marunong umatras, matapang, hindi pipichuging buksingero, former world champion, kumbaga hindi pwedeng bigyan ng kumpiyansa. So, kailangan yung dobleng ingat talaga. Tsaka open eh. Masyadong bukas at tsaka marami tayong makukuhang mga angulo na pwede natin siyang patamaan kagad.
(Brandon Rios is like a bull. His style is he will come in as a fighter, he doesn’t know how to back away, he’s strong, he’s not a joke, former world champion. Basically we can’t underestimate him. So we need to be extra careful. And he’s very open so we can get him from a lot of angles.)

ROACH: It’s a really really big fight we’re really in a must win situation, we’re going against a young gun, tough guy from a new generation coming up. It’s a must win situation I feel and to get back to where Manny must be, in the pound per pound top ten i definitely think we have to be impressive and we need a knock out to win this in old fashion

Pacquiao says he’s ready.

PACQUIAO: Walang kaba kung hindi excited ang nararamdaman. Katulad ng ginagawa ko ngayon happy ako dahil uhaw ako sa training at sa fight.
(No nerves just excited. I’m happy with how I trained today because I’m thirsty to train and to fight.)

Pacquiao returns to the ring on November 24 in Macau. Does he still have what it takes to win?

Script and narration by Natashya Gutierrez
Video by Adrian Portugal

– Rappler.com