A lot of people are willing to give God credit, but so few ever give Him cash." ~Robert E. Harris
The significance of the quote to this chapter of my Manny Pacquiao chronicles pertains to how Pacquiao has always put his faith before anything else and his generosity. Pacquiao constantly gives to charity, church and the sick, sharing his time, money and efforts to try and share his blessings. We are all human and have our flaws, but what we do for others are what we will be remembered for in this Earth. Some people say the right things, take credit without truly earning it. If you can talk the talk, walk the walk. It is perhaps one reason why Pacquiao fights without fear. Win or lose, to him he is merely doing God's work and accept whatever the outcome is as long as he does his best.
"Higher Calling"
After his razor-thin close split-decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao set forth on moving up to the lightweight division. Pacquiao admitted he was having a hard time making the super featherweight limit at 130 pounds and after capturing the Ring and WBC super featherweight belts, Pacquiao decided it was time to move up.
David Diaz who held the WBC lightweight belt was the chosen dance partner by Pacquiao's team and promotional outfit Top Rank Promotions. Diaz was a big lightweight and fights with reckless abandon.
Another incentive for the fight was Pacquiao’s elusive quest to become Boxing's best Pound-for-Pound fighter in the world. Floyd Mayweather Jr. had recently announced his retirement from the sport and his fight against Diaz would be Pacquiao’s audition to take over the top spot.
Top Rank conducted a press tour which included a visit to Chicago wherein I was able to participate. Diaz is a Chicago native and the tour stop was intended to get his local fans to rally behind him. Diaz also got to throw the ceremonial opening pitch at a Cubs game as part of the fight publicity. Surprisingly though, during the pep-rally in downtown Chicago, Pacquiao’s fans outnumbered Diaz’s hometown crowd 6-1 by my estimation. Attributing to his skyrocketing popularity, fans were cheering “Manny! Manny! Manny!” at the first glance of the Pacman walking to the podium set-up in one of the Chicago’s busier streets. Notably, Diaz played gracious host and welcomed Pacquiao to his hometown vowing to give Manny his all when they meet each other in the ring. Pacquiao in his part was very generous of his time towards his fans, signing autographs, posing for pictures and even conversing with his supporters. It was a reflection of why he is so beloved by his fans. Pacquiao embodied what it was to be a hero of the masses with his humility, generosity despite the status he has reached and lived up to his billing as “The People’s Champion”.
During the press tour, Pacquiao and Diaz displayed genuine respect towards the other. Usually Pacquiao's fights especially against fighters of Mexican descent are surrounded by some form of animosity rooting from Pacquiao’s dominance of Mexican fighters on his way to the top that spawned a Philippines vs. Mexico rivalry. Surprisingly those sentiments were absent and replaced by what Bob Arum himself described as “two gentlemen outside the ring”.
Both fighters even had chances to joke with each other throughout their promotional tour. In a column by reviewjournal.com, While both Diaz and Pacquiao were at the LA leg of their Press tour, Top Rank’s creative PR team brought out a goat to hype up the fight (Diaz is a self-professed fan of a the Chicago Cubs team in Major League Baseball which has not been to the World Championships since 1945 and blame it on the “Curse of the Billy Goat”) Diaz said, "Man, that billy goat scared me, dude. Can you imagine if the Cubs start messing up, and that gets around? I'm not having that on my ticket." Pacquiao tried to appease Diaz’s fears and jokingly suggested “We should eat it”.
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