Manny Pacquiao lays face down on the mat after Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him out in the 6th round during their bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, on December 9, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The punch that knocked out national boxing hero Manny Pacquiao left the Philippines shocked.
From the highest corners of government to the man in the street, Pacquiao’s defeat dampened spirits already weighed down in a country dealing with a killer typhoon that left more than 1,000 dead or missing last week.
Senator Francis Pangilinan summed up the national sentiment. “It hurts,” he said. “This is a painful defeat felt throughout the nation.”
But he said Pacquiao is still and would “always be our nation’s greatest boxing champion. This painful defeat does not lessen in anyway what he has achieved as a boxer, as a Filipino and as a human being. We will always hold him in highest esteem.”
In General Santos City, Pacquiao’s hometown, where the fight was broadcast live in several public stadia, shocked viewers reacted with stunned silence after their fighter fell in the sixth round before a 16,000-strong crowd at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
“We were all silent because we were unsure what happened. He was unconscious for so long,” said businessman Jun Bayonico, 51, who watched the fight live with friends and relatives.
“For so many years, he was our idol. We are saddened by what happened, but maybe this is a sign he should retire. It would have been better if he retired a winner,” he added.
In Quezon City, people strode out of cinemas at Eastwood Mall in Libis, looking like they had been seeing a sad movie.
Before joining what seemed like a funeral procession, the crowd stayed for some 30 minutes after the sixth round. Unable to accept that their hero had been defeated, they sat there, waiting for word from Pacquiao himself.
The 39-year-old Juan Miguel “El Dinamita” Marquez of Mexico sent down Pacquiao, 33, face first to the canvas with a right hand with one second left of the round to win their welterweight fight-their fourth meeting-on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Dec. 9.
The end came too soon, unexpected, a group from Laguna told the Inquirer.
“What happened?” one from the group said, apparently trying to understand what had just happened. /MP
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