Pacquiao victory sparks talk of a rematch with Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao was impressive in his return from retirement. Is a rematch with Floyd Mayweather in the cards?

By Louis Chan
REPRINTED FROM ASAM NEWS

NO STORY of Manny Pacquiao is ever complete without speculation of a return bout with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather.

With Mayweather sitting at ringside in Las Vegas, Pacquiao defeated Jesse Vargas by unanimous decision Saturday night for the WBO Welterweight title. The 37-year old Filipino pugilist easily defeated Jessie Vargas, 10 years his junior, knocking down Vargas once in the second round.

Immediately speculation turned to whether a rematch with Mayweather. Mayweather is officially retired, but so was Pacquiao prior to his fight with Vargas.

RELATED:

• Pacquiao vs. Mayweather ... oh, well
• Pacquiao and Donaire on the same fight card

Pacquiao said it was he who invited Mayweather to the match. Pac Man’s no dummy. He’s a showman at heart and he knows the mere presence of Mayweather will resurrect talk about a rematch.

Of course, the two will remain coy while the promoters work behind the scenes to make it happen.

Their last match which Mayweather won left many underwhelmed. The feeling is a rematch can’t be any worse and there are hordes of boxing fans willing to take the chance and commit big bucks to see it on pay for view.

Would you pay to see a rematch? Their last fight in May 2015, long-anticipated and years in the making, was the highest grossing boxing match in history. Both fighters made millions of dollars.

Pacquiao was hampered with a sore shoulder that he injured while training.

In the other big match on the card, Nonito Donaire lost his super bantamweight title to Jesse Magdaleno in a 12 round unanimous decision. It was a dream of the Filipino Fash to play on the same card with Pacquaiao. Unfortunately it didn’t end the way he had envisioned.

Manny Pacquiao defeats Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas for the WBO Welterweight crown.

It's amazing what Manny Pacquiao earned last year

Manny Pacquiao's day job is as a Congressman in the Philippines.

THE FIGHT between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather earned them the dubious distinction of having 
the biggest paychecks for  athletes in 2015.

The Sportal is a website known for its lists for athletes, i.e. The 20 Fittest Athletes, 19 Athletes Turned Politicians, 20 Best Foreign-born Players in NBA History ... well, you get the drift. 

It recently put out a list, 21 Richest Athletes At the Ending of 2015. The Filipino pugilist Pacquiao came in 2nd with $156.4 million earned last year. In the No. 1 spot was Floyd Mayweather, nicknamed "Money" for good reason, who earned $293 million.

The fight between the two welterweights, dubbed the "fight of the century," was held in Las Vegas made about $600 million through ticket sales and pay-for-view broadcasts. Mayweather's contract earned him 40 percent of that amount. Pacquiao earned an amount just north of $150 million. The difference between the year's final total and what they earned in the fight is due to endorsements and commercials. Pacquiao also earns less than $12,000 a year as a congressman in the Philippines.

The fight between two fighters past their prime was a little lackluster but the amount of money it generated is the most for any single boxing match in history.

RELATED: Pacquiao, Bruce Lee score TKO against Asian male stereotype

The two boxers beat out such luminary athletes such as  New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning who came in at the No. 21 spot with a meager $23.7 million and at No. 3, international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who earned $77.4 million, less than half of Pacquiao's earnings.

Tennis players and football players did well on the list and there were a few golfers but all of them were topped by the boxers and soccer players. Click here for the complete list.

For more news about Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

###

Pacquiao has surgery, faces lawsuits and ... maybe, Mayweather again

In the press conference after the Mayweather fight, Manny Pacquio
revealed the injury to his right shoulder.

FILIPINO fighter Manny Pacquiao had an operation May 6 to fix a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The prognosis is that the surgery went well and he would be ready to fight again in nine months or a year.

Floyd Mayweather has a fight coming up in September and vowed to retire if he was to keep his record a perfect 49-0 to match boxing legend Rocky Marciano. However, he kept his option open for a rematch with Pacquiao to actually exceed the Marciano record.

UPDATE: Mayweather closes the door for a rematch, calls Manny a sore loser

On another front, Pacquiao is being sued by some of his fans who bet heavily for the fighter in his historic match with Mayweather. The fight last weekend raised the richest purse ever for a boxing match and certainly was one of the most heavily anticipated but it was far from the "fight of the century" that boxing fans had expected.

The fight showed a slow and plodding Pacquiao who looked like a shadow of his former self. After the fight, Pacquiao's camp revealed that the boxer fought with a shoulder injured during training.

Pacquiao did not properly disclose his injury to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which could fine and suspend him for allegedly lying on his prefight medical questionnaire. 

Had Pacquiao disclosed the injury when it happened, about 2½ weeks before the fight, the commission doctor would have worked with Pacquiao's team on a treatment plan and likely would have allowed him to receive an anti-inflammatory shot on fight night. But because the commission said it did not know about Pacquiao's injury until a couple of hours before the bout, it denied his request for the shot.

In Los Angeles, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, a famed orthopedic surgeon who performed similar surgeries on Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady, said he could not be "more pleased with the results." It was a 90-minute outpatient surgery, so Pacquiao did not stay overnight.

Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Oh, well ...

Manny Paquiao talks about his injured shoulder in a press conference a day after the fight.

THE ANTICIPATION was better than the results. The so-called "fight of the century" between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather wasn't artistic and fell well below expectations. 

 Lumpia sales were at record levels at turo-turo shops in the San Francisco Bay Area as Filipino/Americans throughout the country held house parties and gathered at bars and restaurants to watch their countryman's big fight, hoping for an upset.

In the Philippines, May 2 was declared a national holiday. The Philippines' national electric company, Palawan Electric, urged Filipinos to stop using all electricity except lamps and refrigerators to prevent strain on the nation’s electric grid from the broadcast of the fight.

Mayweather won the fight but couldn't overcome his image woes. Pacquiao lost but for some inexplicable reason, he thought he should have won. Click here for round-by-round descriptions.

Fans in the Philippines braved a storm to watch an outdoor TV screen. More photos from the Philippines.

Mayweather's defensive strategy, using his longer reach to keep Pacquiao away worked throughout the fight. Pacquiao couldn't get within reach to deliver the blows we are used to seeing come from his him. Where were the angles? Where was the footwork? Where were the flurries? Where was the left hook? Where was his right jab?

It was clearly not the Manny that we've come to expect.

As it turned out, he had a shoulder injury suffered during training. Officials denied his request for a pain-killing injection so he had to basically fight with one arm all night.

"It's part of the game," Pacquiao said. "I don't want to make alibis or complain or anything ... [but] it's hard to fight one-handed."

Despite the loss, Pacquiao earned $150 million. Mayweather was guaranteed $180 million  win or lose, the largest purse ever for any sporting event. The total revenue reached $600 million, another record. Mayweather reportedly earned about $240 million.

Mayweather, with a record of 48-0 has to have one more win to match the 49-0 record made by legend Rocky Marciano. That should come in September of this year after which, he said, he would retire.

According to his trainer, Freddy Roach, Pacquiao will likely go down in weight, where he is closer to his true fighting weight.

In challenging Mayweather in the welterweight division Pacquiao had to gain pounds he clearly was not comfortable carrying. The Filipino fighter has won championships in eight weight divisions, the most of any boxer.

But, first, there's this problem with the shoulder ...

###

Jimmy Kimmel sings Manny Pacquiao’s new song

OK, WE know that Manny Paquiao can't sing well. But we LOVE that he loves to sing, critics be damned.

Even though he vowed that he would quit trying to sing professionally a few months ago, the Filipino pugilist has come out with a new song that he says will be his entrance song when he enters the arena to fight Floyd Mayweather on May 2 in Las Vegas.

He sings in Tagalog (the lyrics are below) in a "We-Are-The-World"-style soaring patriotic song written by Lito Camo. The title of the song Lalaban Ako Para Sa Filipino (I am Going to Fight For Filipinos), are sung in Tagalog (with the help of auto-tune) by the Pacman himself.
 Here are the English translation of the lyrics:

I always ask in my mind why do we have to judge what you feel?

What should be the right basis so they can listen to us?

Do we have to be in a good status?

Even if i hurt myself, i still wanted to keep it within me and just be silent about it.

Even if my heart aches, its nothing to me as long as people from my country show their smiles and felt happy.

I will fight the whole world for my country bringing your name

I'm a Pinoy. We are Pinoy

I will fight the world with my life at stake.

I will fight for all Filipino

Even us, has our own dreams for our country

To help fellow countrymen, and give pride for our very own country

It doesn't matter who you are. Poor or rich if for the country we all fight together.

I will fight the whole world for my country bringing your name

I'm a Pinoy. We are Pinoy.

I will fight the world with my life at stake.

I will fight for all Filipino

I will fight, I will fight

I will fight the whole world for my country bringing your name

I'm a Pinoy. We are Pinoy.

I will fight the world with my life at stake.

I will fight for all Filipino

I will fight for my country.

Manny Paquiao in a still during the recording of Lalaban Ako Para Sa Filipino.

That's quite a contrast to Mayweather, 38, who arguably summed up his prime motivation when he rapped, "Lifestyle, you know what it is: getting money man", in his 2009 collaboration with Ludacris, Undisputed.

Pacquiao's new video has him singing to scenes from the aftermath of the destructive Typhoon Haiyan in 2014, and of course some of his fight footage. 
Pacquiao's latest singing attempt was honored - I say "honored" - by Jimmy Kimmel singing the same song in its original Tagalog on his show earlier this week. Not bad and kudos to his attempt to sing in the Filipino dialect. Kimmel did it straight without any malice or attempt to make it funny. But you can't help but be humored by his attempt in pronouncing the Tagalog lyrics.

That's quite an anthem that applies to situations beyond the boxing match.

The Paquiao-Mayweather fight will carry the bill of the "Fight-Of-The-Century" and will have the largest payout of any professional boxing match in history.

Even though both fighters are past their prime - the fight should have been taken five years ago - the match has long been anticipated and will be shown on Showtime and HBO at the same time at the record cost of about $90 pay-per-view.

Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Boxing's Superbowl

Floyd Mayweather, left, will fight Manny Pacquiao, right, on May 2 in Las Vegas for the welterweight title.

CIRCLE May 2 on your calendar. The fight of the century is on. 

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have finally agreed to terms and the match all boxing fans have been clamoring for for the last 5 years is finally set.

The Philippines' President Aquino will probably declare a national holiday. All business in Manila, Hawaii, Carson and Daly City will come to a standstill. Don't get too sick that you need to sign into a hospital that day because the Filipino nurses that normally staff the evening shift will be watching it on their tablets and smart phones. In San Francisco, it is lucky that the fight will occur on a Saturday or they'd have to shut down City Hall.

If you're Filipino, don't plan any baptisms, weddings, reunions or any fundraising dances on May 2. You probably won't get many people to attend, unless you set up a 56-inch flat screen in the garage.

When Pac-man came on the scene and won crowns in 8 different weight divisions, he was being hailed as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. That chaffed at Mayweather, who up to that point, had be called the best. May weather has a good claim. He's never lost a fight in 47 bouts.

"Boxing fans and sports fans around the world will witness greatness on May 2," Mayweather said. "I am the best ever, TBE, and this fight will be another opportunity to showcase my skills and do what I do best, which is win. Manny is going to try to do what 47 before him failed to do, but he won't be successful. He will be number 48."

Number 48 will be the best test of his skills to date. Despite his gaudy record, Mayweather has been roundly criticized for fighting lesser no-name opponents or fighters who where clearly on the decline in order to reach his goal of 50 fiights without a loss. Along the way, he's been in jail, then out of jail, back into jail, then out again. He's accused Manny of doping and insisted on blood tests prior to the fight. Then he demanded a 60-40 split of the purse. He wanted an exclusive on Showtime even though Pacquiao has a deal with HBO. He didn't want to negotiate with Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, has been taking on all-comers. Real contenders. He's won the admiration of movie stars and fight fans throughout the world. He was elected to the Philippines' Congress and his records have reached platinum in sales. Since 2009 when he was in his best physical condition, he's lost two fights. He finally gave in to all the demands and Mayweather gave up the demand for a blood test.

"I am very happy that Floyd Mayweather and I can give the fans the fight they have wanted for so many years," Pacquiao said. "They have waited long enough and they deserve it. It is an honor to be part of this historic event. I dedicate this fight to all the fans who willed this fight to happen and, as always, to bring glory to the Philippines and my fellow Filipinos around the world."

The purse will be the largest ever for a boxing match. The tickets for the fight sold out in 15 minutes. Mayweather is expected to earn $120 million for the contest scheduled for 12 rounds; Pacquiao will get $80 million no matter the outcome.

Both fighters are past their fighting prime so the match everyone wanted to see has lost some of its luster, but it will still be a helluva fight to finally determine who the best pound-for-pound fighter really is when they meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the joint welterweight crown.

But will the contest really happen? Mayweather has done this before and something has always come up to cancel or postpone a fight. He'd get arrested, he doesn't like the promoter, or he doesn't like the purse.

He's already started complaining. He's upset that news of the fight leaked out before Mayweather announced it because one of the terms he insisted on was that he be the one to announce the match.

I would not be surprised that something happens to derail the much anticipated match between the two pugilists.

###