Pacquiao Crosses The River Of No Return

By ALEX P. VIDAL

Now that he has crossed the river of no return, so to speak, by scaling the 135 pounds to challenge World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion David Diaz on June 28 in Las Vegas, there is no turning back for the WBC superfeatherweight (130 pounds) champion Manny Pacquiao.
He has to remain in the lightweight division now for the rest of his fistic career.
Win or lose on June 28, Pacquiao cannot anymore accommodate the saber-rattling Juan Manuel Marquez for Pacquiao to engage Marquez in a trilogy in the division where Pacquiao is currently king.
In a third meeting with Marquez, Pacquiao will have everything to lose and nothing to gain.
If Pacquiao will dethrone Diaz, he will become a permanent lightweight attraction and he can only invade the higher division (junior welterweight and welterweight) at his and Fred Roach’s behest and shoot for a fat payroll. But there is no way for him to scale back to the superfeatheweight division just so he can silence the sore loser Marquez.
Since he will relinquish his WBC super-featherweight crown (this is mandatory for any champion who will take a stab at another title in the higher division). Pacquiao will enter the ring at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on June 28 as challenger.
If Pacquiao will fail to knock the jewels off from the head of Diaz, he can still continue fighting in the lightweight division or request his benevolent promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank to give him a chance to vie for the junior welterweight fame against Ricky Hatton or face Floyd Mayweather in a Battle Royale in the welterweight division.
If his handlers want Pacquiao to battle the indestructible Oscar dela Hoya in the light middleweight division in his next outing, he must hurt and demolish Diaz convincingly (no more Kelly Pavlik in the middleweight division, please).
Facing the greatest and biggest ring gladiators in the world is the “price” that Pacquiao has to “pay” for leaving the superfeatherweight division and crossing the river of no return.

Pacquiao To Skip Iloilo National Amateur Slugfest

The invitation of the chairman of the country’s city mayors has failed to convince World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight champion Manny Pacquiao to grace the 2008 National Youth and Women amateur boxing championship slated last May 3-7.
Pacquiao, 29, is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles on May 10 to rev up for the June 28 showdown with WBC lightweight king David Diaz in Las Vegas. He had earlier cancelled his trip to China where he was invited to tour the Olympic facilities in Beijing from April 30 to May 4.
The written invitation was sent by Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) where Pacquiao’s belt carrier, Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia of Bacolod City, is also official.
Treñas had vowed to give a red-carpet welcome to the most popular professional athlete in the country today during the five-day activity organized by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP).
Local organizers started to send invitation fillers even before Pacquiao dismissed Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas last March 15,
“He really has a tight schedule and we can’t convince him to honor the invitation to be present in the national amateur championship,” said Rey Golinggan, Pacquiao’s wedding godfather, who visited Iloilo City on April 25.
Golinggan, 65, who sent a team from General Santos City in the amateur boxfest, said he will nevertheless sponsor a despidida party for the 29-year-old boxer cum business management student who is now training in Golinggan’s gym in General Santos City.
Despite Pacquiao’s absence, sports journalist Jonavin Villalva said he was informed by local organizers headed by Winners Promotion representative Marlon Lumacad, Jr. that major sponsors that were earlier informed about the boxing champion’s coming continued to support the event.
“Mr. Lumacad showed to me the list of participating teams mostly from Mindanao and that they have prepared some measures just in case Pacquiao will not show up,” said Villalva, who will cover Pacquiao’s championship rumble with Diaz in Mandalay Bay on June 28 for MBC Aksyon Radyo Iloilo.
Pacquiao’s scheduled press conference in L.A. on May 3 was also moved to 10 days after Top Rank promoter Bob Arum learned that Pacquiao could not make it to the United States until May 10. /MP