“I want the people of the Philippines to be happy, even if they
have nothing.” MANNY PACQUIAO
By Alex P. Vidal
Publisher Lemuel Fernandez
estimated the worth of Manny Pacquiao to be somewhere between P5 to P10
billion.
“I think he is now
richer than Edgar Sia,” said Lemuel, who watched Pacquiao steamroll Shane
Mosley via 12-round unanimous decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7,
2011.
Sia, also known as “Injap”,
is the founder of the Mang Inasal food chain.
Sia’s fortune
skyrocketed when he sold 70 percent of Mang Inasal Phils. to Jollibee Foods Corp.
for P3 billion in 2010.
As chief executive
officer of the Injap Investment, Inc., Injap Land Corporation (DoubleDragon
Properties, Corp.), and People’s Hotel Corporation, Sia is considered as one of
the richest Filipino-Chinese businessmen in the country who is below 50 years old today.
Pacquiao is expected to
get more or less P4 billion in his “Fight of the Century” battle against Floyd
Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas on May 2.
Like most pugilists, Pacquiao
(57-5-2, 38 KOs) doesn’t have a college degree.
As an
out-of-school-youth in Gen. Santos City in early 90’s, boxing was his only way
out of dire straits.
In fact, after a brief
stint in the amateur ranks as “Kid Kulafu” (his first moniker), poverty pushed
him to turn professional on January 25, 1995, winning by a four-round decision in
a light-flyweight aperitif against patsy Edmund Enting Ignacio (8-24-3, 1 KO)
in Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental.
INTELLIGENCE
“But he possesses a
practical intelligence not found in any other athletes in this generation,” Fr.
Marlon Beof told this writer in a private residence in Las Vegas, Nevada two
days after Pacquiao snatched the WBC super-featherweight title on a 12-round
split decision against Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) on March 15, 2008.
Beof, 46, a New
York-based Roman Catholic priest, celebrated a thanksgiving Mass to Pacquiao
the morning after the event in Pacquiao’s last 10 fights.
He discovered that
Pacquiao has a special gift aside from his boxing skills because of the way the
boxer-cum-congressman analyzes issues and events during their conversation.
“Yes, he did not have a
formal education. But God has given him a special knowledge that most of us
don’t have. He can analyze; he can decipher complex issues even if he can’t
express it in English,” explained Beof.
Beof’s observation was
sustained by Gen. Santos City-based businessman Adriano “Rey” Golingan,
Pacquiao’s wedding godfather and civilian spiritual adviser.
“Pacquiao is
spiritually-attached to God. He has a special gift, the kind of practical
intelligence not found inside the classroom; the kind of knowledge that he did
not learn from the books,” swore Golingan, owner of the gym where Pacquiao
first trained as an amateur in 1991.
PREDICTED
Golingan had predicted
Pacquiao’s major victories against dangerous opponents like Oscar De La Hoya,
Ricky Hatton, Miguel Angel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, and Joshua Clottey.
“It appears that
Pacquiao is always being guided spiritually; that it’s almost impossible for
him to lose because of his attachment to God,” added Golingan, who led the
evening prayers inside Pacquiao’s hotel suite either in the Mandalay Bay or in
the MGM Grand.
International promoter
Rex “Wakee” Salud, 58, Pacquiao’s Cebu partner and fellow cockfighting
aficionado, described Pacquiao, 36, as “a ring genius.”
“It’s not hard to place
a bet on him,” said Salud, former manager of ex-IBF world flyweight champion
Gerry Penalosa. “His victory has always been crystal clear even before the duel
in the ring. He is a ring genius and nobody can match his talent in the entire
planet.”
On June 23, 2008, five
days before his 9-round demolition of David Diaz for the WBC lightweight
diadem, Pacquiao made the final announcement before the eight-vehicle entourage
romped off to Las Vegas from the Wild Card gym in Hollywood.
“Pababain ang lahat ng container
ng tubig na naka expose sa sunlight. Hindi maganda sa health natin kung uminom
tayo ng mineral water na naka expose sa sunlight (let’s leave behind all the
containers of mineral waters that were exposed in the sunlight. It’s not good
for our health if we drink them),” Pacquiao ordered.
The caravan left L.A.
without bringing several bottles of mineral water.
MEMORY
Pacquiao can also retain
in his memory the first names of those who accompanied him regularly in his
travel to Las Vegas even if he met them only briefly.
He is generous to most
of those who come to him for his signature and for some pennies.
If Pacquiao can’t immediately
remember a person’s name, he acknowledges that he met that person in the past
and recognizes the person only in the face by flashing a smile.
Inside his hotel suite,
Pacquiao personally distributed the electronic cards that served as keys to the
rooms of members of Team Pacquiao.
On April 27, 2009 inside
his suite in Mandalay Bay, Pacquiao handed to me the electronic card for the
room of the four accredited journalists from the Philippines.
“O ito ang para sa mga
photographers (This key is for the room of the photographers),” Pacquiao said,
referring to the four accredited journalists: Abac Cordero of Philippine Star,
Nick Giongco of Manila Bulletin, Roy Luarca of Philippine Daily Inquirer, and
this writer then of Philboxing.com.
